Chessboard
by Universitas
Summary: Sequel to "Mass Mayhem": When Commander Victor Shepard vanishes from the Normandy, his crew must find him and uncover the reasons, secrets, and plots behind his disappearance. *M!Shep/Joker*
1. Prologue

DUN. DUN. DUN. It is here. The sequel to "Mass Mayhem" that I've been working on for about 1.5 months now, the thing I broke my brain trying to come up with and probably has ended up a lot bigger (or more pretentious) than I first planned. There will be a few nods to "Mass Mayhem" around the place, but "Chessboard" pretty much stands on its own, mostly because those two are extremely different from each other.

So! Let's get to it.

I do not own _Mass Effect_. BioWare and EA do.

* * *

* * *

**Chessboard**_  
by Universitas_

**Prologue**_  
2170 CE_

The Tenth Street Reds called him the Old Man. He wasn't really that old, only about thirty, but he was the oldest, and that's what counted. Victor thought he liked the name because it made other people underestimate him. Not a lot of people knew he used to be a soldier for the UNAS. But what Victor really liked about the Old Man was his ambition, all his talks about "expanding the Reds" and making it a lot more than just a gang on the streets of New York. More than a gang on the streets of Earth.

_The Old Man paced around a narrow alley. Even now, he had that "fuck with me and you'll pay" kind of look that made all the other Reds complete pussies around him. But it was a different story for Victor and Jake._

_"I don't teach this shit to everyone, but you two are the smartest kids in the Reds." A holographic glove—an omni-tool—appeared around the Old Man's arm. "I'll show you what I know, but you'll have to learn the rest on your own."_

_The two listened intently, absorbing every word he said._

But the Old Man was gone. Done in by the goddamn police after a fight with the rival Fangs turned horribly wrong. Victor wasn't there; the Old Man didn't let him brawl, told him that he was too important to his long-term plans to get knifed or shot. But Jake was there, and he told him every detail. The sirens coming out of nowhere, the Fangs running for whatever hiding spots they had, police speeders swarming the lot, the Old Man roaring for the rest of the Reds to run. Victor didn't get it. If the Old Man worked his ass off for his plans, then why did he let himself get arrested—or worse? Why didn't he just leave someone else behind for the feds? And who would replace him as the Reds' leader?

Only the last question was answered.

_The Reds had gathered around Jake, who was seated on a trashcan. Victor, as always, stood right by him. "The Old Man told me that if something happened, he wanted me to take over. So I am, I'm the new leader. If anyone's got a problem with that…" He brandished his pistol. "Then they better shut the fuck up."_

_Nobody said anything. _

Victor supposed that dead men still held power.


	2. Chapter 1

**PART ONE: CAESAR**

_2178 CE_

First Lieutenant Victor Shepard found the SSV _Munich_ busier than usual. Datapads passed from hand to hand within seconds, flurries of haptic windows opened and closed, and even the statuesque XO, Captain Jones, seemed skittish. Maybe all the activity had something to do with the "important matter" the CO had mentioned in the message.

Victor would get his answer soon enough. He approached the woman at the center of the CIC and gave a swift salute. "Admiral."

Rear Admiral Anna Whitwell looked up from her datapad and returned the salute. A wiry woman in her forties, she wore her graying red hair in a tight bun. "Lieutenant. We have something of a…" Her eagle-like green eyes narrowed. "… situation on our hands." She turned towards a console and tapped a few keys. A small image of a _Kowloon _-class freighter appeared on the screen. "The MSV _Snake Fang_ was to deliver a shipment of experimental weapons to the Alliance base planetside. It was scheduled to arrive three days ago, and it still hasn't shown up. All attempts at communication have failed."

"How big is this weapons shipment, ma'am?"

"Three prototype disruptor torpedoes. Vastly superior to current-generation counterparts, according the specs. Obviously, we can't have them falling into the wrong hands."

Victor nodded. "You want me to locate the _Snake Fang_ and those torpedoes."

"Investigation isn't something you're trained for." Whitwell gave him a thin, faint smile. "But I need someone I can trust to handle this situation with a bit of subtlety."

"What level of subtlety are you looking for?"

"This isn't an official act by the Alliance, but you don't need to hide who you are. In fact, I think people would be more willing to share if they knew they were dealing with you. However, I need you to choose who you speak to carefully. I don't want any word of missing prototype weaponry falling into the hands of, say, batarian terrorists. If said terrorists don't already have the weapons."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Good. Report to Captain Jones in the debriefing room. He'll give you what you need to know."

* * *

**I.**

_Present Day – 2185 CE_

"Justicar Samara, I release you from your oath of service."

Those ten words barely left Victor Shepard's mouth when a biotic corona, blue against the orange Illium sunset, enveloped the kneeling asari's form. Victor watched the aura fade with a pang of disappointment. After riding and fighting through hell and back, the squad that he spent months gathering together was slowly splitting apart.

Samara stood, letting the ethereal whiteness fade from her eyes. "It has been a great honor serving under you." Her calm, measured tone made her imminent departure harder for Victor to stomach than Zaeed's; the veteran merc seemed almost eager to leave and vanish into Omega's crowds.

"It's been my honor to have you aboard," Victor said.

She looked to Thane Krios, who stood to Victor's right. "As a justicar, always traveling in solitude, true friends are hard to come by. I am fortunate to have known you both."

Thane nodded. "Likewise."

"You're sure you want to leave here?" Victor asked. "We can always drop you off somewhere in asari space."

Samara shook her head. "There are certain matters I must deal with on Illium before returning to Thessia. If you need assistance in the future, I will gladly provide it. I am sure you know how to find me." With a final bow of her head, she turned around and strode out the docking bay towards the Nos Astra markets. The few asari in the area stiffened as she passed, offering her polite nods.

"We'll meet her again," Thane said. "I'm sure of it."

Victor looked at the drell assassin. "You two were close, huh?"

"Yes. Not romantic involvement, of course. But despite our differences, we found much common ground." Thane gazed at the dock's exit, hands clasped behind his back. "Both of us know how it feels to lose a child, for example. Morinth. Kolyat."

"I can imagine." The mention of those names brought back memories. The mission's completion brought about a sentimental mood towards the times past. Victor recalled Samara's brief, yet violent confrontation with Morinth on Omega; Thane's tense reunion with Kolyat on the Citadel. "Let's return to the _Normandy_." Victor stifled a yawn. "It's been a long day."

* * *

Victor landed on his bed. The muffled sounds of crumpling sheets were music to his ears. That, combined with the feel of fabric against his skin, melted his body into a limp bundle of muscles and coaxed a deep sigh from his mouth. The information trade on Illium, especially when it came to helping Liara root out the Shadow Broker, made a marathon of fighting seem like child's play in comparison.

"What, those stories I sent you wore you out that much?"

He turned his head. A hatless Joker stood by the other side of the bed, arms folded over his chest. Victor replied with a small shrug. "Haven't read them." Reading about some girl's fantasy about him didn't seem like the best way to spend the idle days following the break with Cerberus. He looked up at the ceiling of the captain's cabin. "Trading information on Illium's a lot tougher than Liara made it out to be."

"Can't snipe your way through everything."

"Wish I could." Quite a few brokers and informants in Nos Astra might've been better off with a hypervelocity round in their heads. Or at least with a Widow pointed at them. He returned his gaze to Joker. "You're just gonna stand there, or are you getting in?"

The pilot's smirk widened. "The view's better from up here."

That comment drew Victor's attention to his own chest. He didn't usually sleep shirtless; it was a habit he fell into when Joker started coming up to the cabin. "Get over here."

With a playful "aye-aye," Joker sat down, then swung each of his legs one-by-one onto the bed. Victor found the whole process rather amusing, maybe cute—a word he still wasn't accustomed to using. At the same time, he couldn't help but admire Joker for his tenacity, his determination to lead a normal life despite his condition.

Victor had honestly never expected to start another relationship, especially in the middle of everything—the Reapers, Collectors, Cerberus. But it was a welcome addition, a speck of normalcy in Victor's life. A "reminder that, in the end, he was still a man," to use the cliché from all the military fiction he read in his free time.

Joker scooted over, on top of Victor's outstretched arm. Victor took the opportunity to pull him—gently, of course—closer. "I'm going to miss Samara," he said. "She was a nice balance to all the craziness. Mordin, Grunt, Jack."

"I don't know. Someone who'd kill a guy for jay-walking, member of the asari version of the Jedi? Sounds pretty crazy to me."

"You'd probably think otherwise if you got out of the pilot's chair for once."

Joker shrugged. "What, to meditate with her? Tried that kind of thing while you were…" His cocky expression faltered for a fraction of a moment. "You know. Didn't work."

Victor kneaded Joker's shoulder. "I bet. You're not the reflective type."

"Yeah. You know," Joker said, snuggling a bit closer, "for someone who flat-out collapsed onto the bed, you're getting pretty talkative."

"It's you."

"I do that to people."

Victor reached out and dropped his free hand on the holographic alarm clock, turning off all the lights in the cabin. "We should get some sleep. There's more info hunting tomorrow." He leaned in and gave Joker a brief kiss. "Good night."

"Night." Joker rolled onto his side, facing away. Victor withdrew his other hand, scooted up so his chest pressed against Joker's back, then slipped an arm around the man's waist. As he closed his eyes, the exhaustion from the day's work came crashing down on him once again. Sleep came for him soon enough.

* * *

Victor snapped awake. He looked at the clock: 0400. Even the slow-paced, almost lax mood on the ship following the end of the mission couldn't get him to screw military discipline and sleep in. He murmured an envious curse; Joker, on the other hand, was still sound asleep.

Once Victor was awake, there was no way he could force himself to fall asleep again. No point in lingering any further. He rolled onto his back and climbed out of bed then made for the work area. On his way, an orange light from the left caught his eye. He looked at its source: a notification for a new message on his private terminal. The morning training could wait for ten seconds. He approached the desk and tapped a key on the console.

_Shepard:_

_When you read this message, you will delete it immediately after finishing it. You will go to the location mentioned in it. And you will tell none of your crew about it._

_I know you will because you'll have read this word:_

_Alesh'Khal.

* * *

_

Basically, "Chessboard" is telling two stories: the "prequel" one that's at the start of almost every chapter, and the main one that's in the present, post-ME2. The "prequel" story was going to be a fic of its own with main story serving as a sequel, but then I decided that folding them together made for a good(?) mystery.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! Also, many thanks to **yumikoyoshihana** at LJ for beta-ing these first two segments.

Trivia: If the character of Anna Whitwell sounds familiar, it just might be because she made a cameo as a Captain in "Distance," from "Mass Mayhem" Week 4.


	3. Chapter 2

And the next chapter, in which the path of Part One is set. Also, squad interaction (kinda).

* * *

Victor never liked speaking with Captain Jones. The man always seemed like he had a stick up his ass. Jones never moved more than he needed to; most of the time, he might as well have been a statue. The servicemen joked about getting Jones to show some semblance of emotion.

Admiral Whitwell gave Jones the run of the debriefing room. In another of the captain's oddities, most of the lights were off—to maximize energy efficiency, according to Jones. The only real sources of illumination were the small floor lights and Jones' datapad, which cast a faint orange glow over his chiseled face.

"Caesar Station," Jones said. "The _Snake Fang_'s last known location. A small, Alliance-funded research facility in the Traverse, in the Sui system of the Gemini Sigma cluster. The prototypes were being developed there. One Doctor Francis Baldwin was the project lead. You'll want to speak with him first." When Victor first joined the _Munich_'s crew, the XO's monotone made it difficult not to space out when he was talking. Victor eventually learned to focus on the words and not on the voice. "Questions, Lieutenant?"

"None, sir."

"Very well. A transport to Caesar Station has been prepared for you in the hangar. You can leave when you're ready. Good hunting." Like a mechanical construct rather than a person, Jones' arm snapped up into a salute. Victor responded with his own, then turned and stepped out of the debriefing room.

* * *

**II.**

"Jeff."

The synthesized voice stirred Joker from his sleep. Grumbling, he pressed his face into the pillow a bit harder; as if EDI needed to play Mom even more than she already did.

"Jeff."

Joker rolled onto his other side. A second passed before he gained full awareness of where he was. He opened his eyes, hoping that he didn't bother Victor—

Except he wasn't there.

He shrugged it off. It was hardly the first time Joker woke up with Victor not in bed; the man had a ship to command and a galaxy to save. Joker spent a few seconds wondering if Victor would be in the mess or the CIC before he remembered EDI. He sat up, rubbing an eye. "Yeah?"

"Miss Lawson requires your presence in the debriefing room. She says that the matter is urgent."

Victor had to be really busy if he couldn't make the call himself. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be down."

"Very well, Jeff."

Joker inched his way to the edge of the bed. As his feet touched the ground, he noticed the red lights on the drawers containing Victor's armor and weapons. Red meant "empty;" something must have come up. Hopefully, nothing too big, Joker thought as he stood up and hobbled over to the shower. If the Reapers were on the way, he wanted to enjoy the calm before the storm for as long as possible.

Curiosity drove him to shower and dress faster than normal. He spent the short elevator ride to Deck 2 and the walk to the debriefing room wondering what the "urgent matter" EDI mentioned was. A lead on the Shadow Broker? Asari terrorists? Zombie Nassana Dantius? Joker shook his head. Now he was just babbling to himself. Victor or Miranda would probably tell him all about it once he arrived.

Except when he stepped inside, Joker found Miranda pacing at the head of a table surrounded by the rest of the squad. All eyes were on him.

Miranda, brow furrowed, took a breath. "Shepard's disappeared."

* * *

"What?"

Miranda Lawson expected Joker to be shocked, but his unbelieving tone and slumped shoulders made her almost regret breaking the news so bluntly. At least his reaction confirmed that he didn't know where Shepard went either. "He vanished, completely."

EDI's avatar appeared above the table. "Several hours ago, Shepard disappeared from my on-board sensors. Since then, more thorough scans have confirmed that Shepard is no longer aboard the ship. It is possible he left via one of the _Normandy_'s thermal exhaust ports."

"Shepard must've been cloaked," Garrus said, drumming his talons. "How did he maintain it the whole time? I thought the cloak only lasted for a few seconds."

"If you reroute power from the shields," Kasumi said, "then you can make it last as long as you want. I do it all the time."

Jacob leaned forward on the table. "We can talk all we want about how he disappeared, but that doesn't change the fact that he's gone."

"Maybe you're all making a big deal out of it," Jack said.

Tali shook her head. "No, I know Shepard. He wouldn't just leave like that without telling anyone." She looked at Garrus from across the table, then Joker, who had fallen silent with his own confused look in a corner of the room.

"Then maybe you don't know him as well as you think."

"Enough," Miranda said. "If we are taking this too seriously, I prefer to err on the side of caution. Jacob's right. We need to act. We'll start by asking around Nos Astra for leads. I'll meet with Liara T'Soni, see if she knows anything."

"Who the hell put you in charge?" Jack asked.

Miranda furrowed her brow. "I've been Shepard's second ever since he took command of the _Normandy_."

"Because the Illusive Man put you there. But he isn't running the show anymore. Right now, you're just one of us."

Whether Jack was merely being belligerent or genuinely concerned with the ship's leadership, Miranda couldn't tell. She was strongly inclined to believe the former. "Then cooperate. The faster we locate Shepard, the faster he can resume command."

Several moments of silence overtook the debriefing room. "Fine," Jack said.

At least Jack saw logic. Miranda exhaled and folded her hands behind her back. "Good. Meanwhile, EDI will check Illium's customs records for any mention of Shepard."

"Very well, Miss Lawson."

"Legion will stay behind. I don't think the locals would react well to a geth asking around for Shepard."

The plates on the geth's head shifted in what Miranda guessed was a nod. "Acknowledged."

The XO looked around the room. "We have our assignments. Crew dismissed."

* * *

Joker leaned back in the pilot's chair and sighed. While the squad was away chasing their commander, he spent the last few hours checking the usual extranet bookmarks. Anything to get his mind off Victor's going AWOL. He hoped to god that Jack was right and it was nothing to worry about.

EDI finally broke the silence. "Are you all right, Jeff?"

Joker gave her avatar a sour look. "Shouldn't you be checking those records or something?"

"First, I have checked Illium's customs records several hundred times by now. Second, I am an AI. I am perfectly capable of holding a conversation while simultaneously performing several other tasks. If Shepard's disappearance has caused you an unbearable amount of stress, I am perfectly capable of managing the _Normandy_ on my own."

He opened his mouth, ready to tell EDI that now was the worst time for her to mommy him, when he heard sharp footsteps from behind. For a moment he thought it was Victor, but the man never made a sound when he came up to the bridge.

"EDI's right," Miranda said. A rare instance when Joker hated being right. "We all know how important Shepard is to you."

This was getting ridiculous. Joker turned his chair around. "Look, just because we're in a relationship doesn't mean I can't function without him." He tossed his head backwards on the headrest with a small groan.

Miranda pursed her lips. "I apologize."

"You don't need to." He was probably getting more worked up that he needed to be. They didn't know anything yet. Still, there was that unshakeable feeling that something was wrong. "Did you get anything out of Liara?"

"Our past history made it rather difficult for us to talk. Despite that, she knew nothing." She looked at EDI. "EDI, what did you find?"

"I have found no record of Shepard other than in the _Normandy_'s crew lists."

"Either he hasn't left Illium or he left on an unregistered vessel."

"Let's hope it's the first one," Joker said.

Miranda stepped back. "I'll be in my office. Keep an eye out for any new developments. Notify me when the rest of the squad returns so I can call a debriefing."

"Understood, Miss Lawson."

Joker returned his chair to its normal position as the XO started towards the elevator. He was about to go back to his bookmarks when a new window appeared among the others. "Hey, Miranda, we're getting some kind of signal. Looks like an anonymous transmission on an encrypted channel."

Footsteps as Miranda returned and took a spot to Joker's right. "Patch it through."

He ran his fingers over a few keys. After a moment, a distorted voice laden with static rang throughout the cockpit. _"Greetings."_ Despite the distortion, the casual tone of the greeting was obvious. _"I understand that your Commander has taken an unexpected leave."_

Joker and Miranda exchanged glances. "And this is?" Miranda asked with a furrowed brow, crossing her arms.

_"Someone who can tell you where he went."_

"Really."

_"I'll transmit the coordinates to your ship. I suggest caution. You might find Shepard, but you might also find him unwilling to leave."_ The voice gave way to static, then silence.

That silence lingered in the cockpit for several moments, until EDI broke it. "I have received the coordinates the sender mentioned. They appear to point to a facility in the Gemini Sigma cluster called Caesar Station."

* * *

Already the historical references crop up. A trivial one: in keeping with the names of the established systems of the Gemini Sigma cluster (Han and Ming - Chinese dynasties), the system where Caesar Station is is called Sui, after the short-lived Sui Dynasty. Sorry, after taking the AP World History and SAT II World History tests 1-2 years ago, this crap's branded in my brain. And of course, there's the obvious one in Caesar Station, which is where Part One takes its name from. Don't want to explain it too much, but it builds on a motif I'm using throughout the fic. (End the obnoxious nerdiness here.)

Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 3

The transport shuddered in its landing as the engines powered off. A small click, and the side door swung open. Victor offered the pilot a nod, then stepped off. Caesar Station's hangar, much like the _Munich_, was abuzz with activity. Workers loaded cargo onto freighters, while modified YMIR mechs carried large crates out of cargo holds. Guards in gray armor stood watch all the while.

As Victor gave his legs and arms a stretch—he had been aboard the cramped transport for hours—a tall man in a lab coat approached him. "Welcome to Caesar Station, Lieutenant Shepard," he said, dipping his head. "My name is Paul Sanderson. It's an honor to have you here."

"Thanks," Victor said. "I have business with Doctor Baldwin regarding the recent weapons shipment."

Sanderson nodded. "Yes, of course." He gestured down a long and tall hallway. "Right this way, sir."

The sterile white hallway was just as busy as the hangar, with the same workers, guards, and mechs all over the place. Overhead were two long catwalks with even more guards. Past the occasional windows, Victor glimpsed assembly lines in motion and scientists working in labs. If he wasn't on business for the Alliance, he'd ask for a tour. He eventually found himself in a large square room, with several doors leading off to other sections of the station. Sanderson lead him to the one directly across from the hallway.

The man held a finger to a button on the door's console. "Doctor? Lieutenant Shepard from the Alliance is here, and he wishes to speak with you."

_"About the weapons project? Send him in."

* * *

_

**III.**

"Shepard's disappearance presents intriguing possibilities. Miranda assumes command, Jacob her second. Very interested in observing leadership methods, comparing to Shepard's, analyzing changes in crew efficiency and behavior."

Mordin and Thane nearly finished investigating their chosen sections of Nos Astra when EDI gave the call to return to the _Normandy_. They had found little information pointing to Shepard. Mordin wasn't surprised. From personal experience, any covert operations agent wouldn't leave a trail.

"A scientific perspective," Thane said as the two stepped into the ship's airlock. "You're not worried that Shepard might be in danger?"

The sliding light of the decontamination system washed over them. "Of course. Shepard respected commander, best chance galaxy has against Reaper threat. Would prefer recovering him as quickly as possible. Cannot ignore, however, that current situation has potential for in-depth analysis. Results could provide long-term benefits for crew."

Mordin couldn't quite determine from the drell's slow nod whether or not he understood or appreciated Mordin's interest. "I see."

The second door opened. Mordin and Thane entered the bridge and made their way to the debriefing room. When they arrived, Mordin found that the rest of the squad was already present. He reminded himself that he took one of the more distant sectors of the city; his lateness came purely out of travel time, not out of negligence.

"Good, we're all here," Miranda said, unexpressive compared to others like Jack. "We'll start with what our investigations in the city turned up. For my part, Liara T'Soni had no information on Shepard's whereabouts."

"Then the meeting's over." Jack pushed herself off the table. "I bet none of us found anything." Statements of agreement from the rest of the squad followed.

"It was a waste of time," Grunt said. "So what now?"

"We follow another lead." Miranda looked down to EDI. "An hour ago, we received an anonymous transmission pointing us towards Shepard. EDI, play the recording."

_"Greetings. I understand that your Commander has taken an unexpected leave."_ The distorted voice changed the air in the debriefing room. All ears were on the message, all eyes narrowed, as if thinking or pondering._ "I'll transmit the coordinates to your ship. I suggest caution. You might find Shepard, but you might find him unwilling to leave."_

Very curious, Mordin thought, especially the part that described Shepard as "unwilling to leave." His mind grew abuzz with speculation on the message's meaning, its veracity, Shepard's potential activities.

Miranda cut off his train of thought. "The coordinates pointed to Caesar Station in the Traverse."

"Records of Caesar Station in Citadel, Cerberus, and Alliance databases are scarce," EDI said. "All I found was that it was a privately funded research facility shut down and abandoned six years ago. The lack of information suggests a deliberately purge."

"How do we know that the message's sender was being truthful?" Thane asked.

Garrus' brow plate furrowed. "It's our only real lead. I say we follow it. If it's some kind of trick or trap, we'll just have to spring it and fight our way out."

"We've probably gotten out of worse," Tali said.

"Speaking of the sender…" Kasumi stepped forward from her corner. "Would we be able to trace the message back to the source, see who sent it?"

Grunt nodded. "If this is a trap, I want to know who's screwing around with us."

"The channel on which the transmission was sent was encrypted," EDI said. "I believe I can decrypt it and run a trace, but it will take time."

"We'll investigate Caesar Station. I'll decide who will board when we get there." Miranda took on a matter-of-fact tone. "Meanwhile, EDI will work on tracing the transmission. Crew dismissed."

* * *

As the _Normandy_ disengaged its FTL drives and reemerged in real space, the image of a spear-like construct appeared among Joker's flight instruments. Caesar Station orbited the green gas giant Pilum in manner that reminded Miranda more of debris than a functioning satellite.

"EDI, do you detect any life signs aboard the station?"

"Multiple. All are gathered along a narrow strip running halfway across the station. It is the only section of Caesar Station that has gravity and life support. As a result, the station is giving off very low heat emissions."

"What about Victor?" Joker asked.

"I cannot perform an in-depth analysis of biometric data unless I can uplink with a computer interface on the station."

Miranda nodded. "Then we'll have to send a squad aboard. You can perform your analysis via omni-tool." She went over her mental list of available crew members. Fortunately, Zaeed and Samara would not have been her top choices were they still present. If Shepard was aboard the station and things turned violent for some reason, she preferred to get the man out as quickly and efficiently as possible. "Have Thane, Kasumi, and Garrus take the shuttle to the hangar."

"Acknowledged."

Miranda turned and left the cockpit in a haste. Joker's demeanor suggested that he wasn't used to having her give orders from Shepard's usual spot. And that reinforced the notion that she was in a position she didn't belong in.

* * *

"We were right to come armed," Garrus said, analyzing the data on his omni-tool. "Looks like we're picking up about twenty mass effect fields. Judging by the size and strength, I'd say they're weapons and maybe a few kinetic barriers."

Kasumi fidgeted with a spare thermal clip. "That doesn't mean they're hostile."

"Yes, but people who hide out in abandoned places like this tend to be criminals."

"Or mercenary squads intent on killing criminals," Thane said.

Garrus gave the drell a short stare. "Right. Anyways, we'll see who these people are when we arrive. Be ready for anything."

"You're in charge," Kasumi said, shrugging.

The Kodiak shuttle landed with a small thud on Caesar Station's hangar. Garrus slipped on his helmet. Thane and Kasumi followed suit: the drell with his recon hood, the thief with her breather mask. "Let's do this." With another button press, the door opened. Kasumi, Thane, then Garrus hopped out onto the station's cold metal.

Caesar Station definitely fit the bill of an abandoned space station. The flickering lights on the ceiling and the floor barely provided illumination. Even still, Garrus could make out rusted crates strewn about the hangar.

"EDI," he said, bringing up his omni-tool again, "can you run a scan of the station now?"

_"One moment. Biometric scan in progress."_ Garrus started pacing around.

"The moment of truth," Thane said.

_"Biometric scan complete. Commander Shepard is present on Caesar Station."_

Kasumi nodded. "Then we're committed." She tapped a command into her omni-tool. The shuttle rose and took off for the _Normandy_.

Footsteps from the hallway across the hangar drew Garrus' attention. Five armed guards clad in dull black armor emerged from the shadows and approached the three.

The apparent leader stepped forward. "This is a private facility. I'll have to ask you to leave." Despite the helmet, the lack of a distinct batarian rumble in the guard's voice meant he was human.

"I don't think so," Garrus said. "A friend of ours is here on this station. We're not leaving without him."

"What makes you so sure?" The man crossed his arms.

"I'll say it one more time." Garrus took a step toward the guard and leaned in. Thane and Kasumi took the cue and drew their pistols. _"We're not leaving without him."_

Assault rifles sprang to the other guards' hands. "Even if whoever you're talking about was here…" The leader's tone reeked of an obvious lie. "I don't think we'd let him go with—"

Garrus didn't let him finish that sentence. In true krogan fashion, he slammed his helmet into the guard's head. The Vindicator flew into his hands, and Garrus gunned the bastard down before he could recover from the head-butt. Thane and Kasumi were on the others immediately. The assassin dodged bullets and came in close for point-blank shots, while the thief cloaked and delivered crippling blows from behind. In mere seconds, the five guards were down.

Garrus swapped his weapon for a sniper rifle. "Miranda's orders are to move as quickly as possible, so use stealth to keep them from bunkering down. We'll split up to keep them off-balance. You two take the catwalks, I'll be on the floor. Take out or sneak by any guards you come across, and be sure to keep me in sight at all times."


	5. Chapter 4

The door opened, revealing a very well-furnished and very _white_ office beyond. As Victor stepped inside, he couldn't help but feel a little out-of-place in his black armor.

The thin man at the desk dipped his head. "Lieutenant Shepard, welcome. I'm Doctor Francis Baldwin, head of the development project for the prototype weapons. Please," he said, gesturing to a chair, "have a seat."

Victor nodded and did so.

Baldwin continued typing at his computer while he spoke. "How close are the torpedoes to actual field testing? I'm eager to hear of the results."

"Farther than both of us would hope." Victor scooted his chair in. "The MSV _Snake Fang_, the freighter that was supposed to deliver them? It never arrived."

"It's gone?" The news apparently got the busy-body to stop typing. He ran a hand through his thinning brown hair, then leaned forward on his desk. "That's… troubling. Our benefactor won't be happy to hear that."

"Benefactor?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but is that information really relevant to the investigation?"

Victor resisted the urge to make any noticeable reaction. "If I'm going to find the _Snake Fang_, I'll have to require your cooperation. Who knows? Your benefactor might be able to help. Or they might know something about why the ship vanished."

Baldwin dropped his gaze. "Very well. Our primary source of funding is a weapons manufacturer based on Terra Nova. Kobayashi Arms. Personally, I haven't a clue why they would want a hand in prototype weaponry, but with the money they're providing, I'm not complaining."

"All right. I need you to tell me as much as you can about the project."

* * *

**IV.**

It wasn't the first time Thane had taken orders from Garrus, but working under someone other than Shepard felt rather strange to him. At the same time, Mordin was right. Removing Shepard as the commander held intriguing questions: how would the _Normandy_'s crew function without his leadership? How would Miranda fare in his place?

No more speculation, Thane decided. If the three of them succeeded in locating Shepard and bringing him back to the ship, the crew would not have to work long without him.

The assassin approached the door leading to his assigned catwalk and pressed himself up against the doorway. A quick peek beyond revealed rusted grating on the catwalks, with flickering dim lights lining the sides. He heard metallic footsteps. A guard, perhaps. Another set joined the first. Two guards.

"The boss' guest has been in there a while," he heard one say.

"Keep it down." The other voice spoke in hurried whispers. "Remember that intruder alert? Stay focused. They could be anywhere."

The footsteps drew closer. Thane gripped his pistols. Then, their volume started decreasing; now was the time. With noiseless steps, the assassin approached the two from behind and pulled his silenced pistols' triggers. Thane caught their bodies as they fell and set them gently on the grating.

Thane glanced down at the main floor. Garrus was nowhere in sight, thanks to the scattered and rusted crates and lack of illumination. Moments later, a speck of blue flashed near the far wall. Thane moved to catch up.

* * *

Kasumi dropped her cloak and slammed her omni-tool into the guard's back. She caught the man by his underarms and dragged him into the side corridor. With him out of the way, she cloaked again and moved on.

Sheps' going AWOL had generated quite the response. Between that initial mysterious message and the arrival at Caesar Station, the whole crew was feeling the effects of the commander's absence. Those effects were more along the lines of confusion than panic. The thief was more worried about Joker. How many times had Kasumi gone through the sequence of finding Port Observation locked, crawling through air ducts, and finding those two screwing around on her couches? Well, maybe only thrice, but still. She had also overheard several of their conversations, how Joker regretted losing the commander two years ago because of, according to the pilot, his stubbornness. Joker and Shep were pretty close.

Kasumi just wanted to drag him off the station and be done with it.

_"I have narrowed down Shepard's location to the room on the opposite end of the large corridor,"_ EDI said.

She nodded. Figures; they had to put him where it would take the most time to get to him.

Chatter drew her attention to the main level. "How the hell did the intruders find us here? Scipio's supposed to be secret, right?"

"It is, but we're dealing with our guest's crew here. They're supposed to be almost as good as he is, if not as good. Hell, maybe even better."

Scipio was an ancient Roman general. That suggested that they were dealing with a human-based organization. Something like Cerberus? Maybe. She couldn't classify Scipio human-centric or xenophobic from just the mention of the name. She'd just have to press on.

* * *

"I have finished analyzing the encryption used in the transmission."

EDI's voice broke the monotony of the engines' hum and the flight instruments' clicks. Joker looked up from his controls. "And?"

"Curiously, the encryption protocols are similar to those used in highly classified Alliance transmissions."

"So that means the transmission came from the Alliance?" He furrowed his brow. "Maybe it's Anderson. Or Kaidan." A pause. "Nah, they wouldn't hide themselves, not from us, at least." Or would they? Maybe they didn't know that Victor broke away from Cerberus.

"These particular encryption protocols are highly complex, but I am fully capable of bypassing them; we will know the message's source within an hour."

"Good." Joker returned his gaze to the image of Caesar Station. Those three had better be getting close to finding Victor.

* * *

The "Scipio" merc stood still, assault rifle at the ready, looking out in front of him for any signs of the "intruders." Never for a second did he realize that his head was in the dead center of the sniper rifle's scope.

Garrus pulled the trigger. The merc dropped; the only sounds in the hallway were the light thud from his collapse and the small pop from his silenced gun. Garrus rushed towards the next stack of crates and took cover there. So far, so good. Judging by Kasumi and Thane's status updates, there were more guards on the catwalks than the main floor. That arrangement worked well enough for him, the least stealthy of the three.

According to the schematics EDI had sent to his helmet's HUD, the end of the corridor wasn't too far away. And that meant that Shepard wasn't, either. And _that_ brought up the question of what he was doing in a place like this. These "Scipio" mercs or soldiers seemed about as scrupulous as the ones Garrus and Shepard fought on Omega. Yet for some reason, he ran off to meet with them or join them or… never mind. Garrus would just have to ask Shepard himself when he caught up to the commander.

Garrus slipped past another bunch of crates and an open door and found himself in a large square room. The lights worked slightly better than those in the corridor. He saw no guards; his suit's sensors didn't pick up any threats, either, just a large cache of weapons and explosives below the floor grating. On the other side of the room was a doorway. The area beyond was where EDI had marked Shepard's location.

He opened up a comm channel. "Kasumi, I need you on the main floor. We're going to meet up with Shepard. Thane, stay on the catwalk and keep watch."

_"Gotcha,"_ Kasumi said.

The drell's reply came soon after. _"Understood."

* * *

_

Thane set the last guard's body on the grating, then moved to the next room. He glanced around, finding nobody on the catwalk. Strange, he thought. He expected more guards, maybe enough to require an actual firefight.

_ping_

He picked up an almost undetectable noise. Thane gave the room another look: nobody, not even on the main level, save Garrus.

_"Kasumi, I need you on the main floor. We're going to meet up with Shepard. Thane, stay on the catwalk and keep an eye out for any new guards."_

_"Gotcha."_

"Understood."

On the other catwalk, Kasumi de-cloaked and leapt onto a high crate, then made her way down to Garrus' side. The two exchanged words Thane couldn't hear, then started walking.

_ping_

There it was again, but louder. Behind his red-goggled hood, Thane narrowed his eyes. He tapped the device on the temple of his hood. Infrared. Thermal…

* * *

As Kasumi made the last flip down to the floor, Garrus stood and swapped his Mantis with his assault rifle. Kasumi brandished her pistol in response.

"Just in case…" Garrus said. "EDI, can you confirm that Shepard is still where you marked him? If they're aware of our presence, they could've moved him."

Only static responded.

"Something's wrong, communications are blocked."

Kasumi shrugged. "Three guesses on who's blocking them." She gestured to the other side of the room. "Shall we?"

"Let's. I'm looking forward to getting some answers," Garrus said, his voice low as the two made for the door.

"Same here. I bet everyone is, really." Kasumi summoned her omni-tool and approached the red entrance console. Of course it would be locked. But she hadn't even started working on it when a pained, familiar-sounding grunt echoed throughout the room.

They whirled around just as a grenade rushed down from above. The two dove out of its way, only for it to pass through the floor grating and strike the weapons cache beneath. With a massive bang, the rusted metal chamber gave way to choking clouds of black smoke, so thick that Garrus could barely see anything five feet away.

He climbed to his feet. "Thane, Kasumi."

He glimpsed Kasumi evading unseen blows from a hidden attacker. Garrus pointed his Vindicator at where he might have seen a black fist and fired off a concussive round. The explosive force blew some of the smoke aside, but failed to reveal the assailant. For a moment, he saw bullets strike the ground around Kasumi's feet. The thief backflipped—

A small sphere flew towards her.

"Kasumi!"

A pulsing orange light, its source obscured by the smoke, struck the grenade. The explosion caught the thief in mid-flip, flinging her out of sight. A loud crash and a cry were the only clues to what happened next.

"Dammit," he said, backing up towards what he hoped was a wall.

His rifle flew out of his hand with a sudden, powerful blow from that black-gauntleted fist. Another attack came at him from a different angle. Garrus' combat reflexes kicking in, the turian sidestepped the punch, caught it, then yanked on it, intending to bring the assailant off-balance for a counterattack.

Garrus noticed the omni-tool-shaped yellow glow moments before a fireball exploded at his feet. The attack tore his shields to shreds and slammed him into some metal behind him. He forced himself to his feet, though the impact left him dazed.

To his surprise, the attacker didn't follow up. Maybe the fireball hit him, too. Garrus tapped into the comm channel again on the slim chance that he could actually contact the _Normandy_. He was good at hand-to-hand combat, but with the sneak attack and the smoke, he didn't stand much of a chance.

"EDI, I need a little help—"

Intense pain seized all of his muscles and seared his nerves, bringing him to his knees. An unseen force grabbed him by his helmet and rammed his head into the floor. Blackness took over his world.


	6. Chapter 5

"… Can you imagine it? Tripled firepower with the same amount of weaponry. The Alliance could secure its holdings in the Traverse, protect its colonies from batarian slavers and pirates." Baldwin dropped his gaze and his tone. "Prevent another Mindoir." He took a breath and straightened his posture. "Anyways, do you have any other questions, sir?"

Victor kept his eyes on the small orange hologram of the prototypes for a few more seconds, then looked up at Baldwin. "Just one. Do you know if the _Snake Fang_ planned to make any stops or side-trips before arriving at Terra Nova?"

"If I may speak, sirs." Victor glanced over his shoulder; Sanderson lingered at the doorway.

"Yes?" Baldin asked.

Sanderson stepped forward. "I overheard a conversation between two of the ship's crewmen the day before they left. They mentioned making a supply stop at Elysium."

Elysium. Somehow, Victor kept getting pulled back there. He nodded. "Thank you."

Baldwin smiled and placed his hands on the keyboard. "I'm sure you'll find whatever you need there."

"Hopefully, I will. Thanks for your time, Doctor."

Not even a split-second passed before Baldwin was typing again. "Of course, Lieutenant. I hope you find out what happened to the _Snake Fang_."

* * *

**V.**

The blackness gave way to white, then blurred shapes. Muddled sounds, maybe voices. The feel of a bed underneath him. The smell of antiseptics. Finally, the familiar sight of the _Normandy_'s medical bay. Garrus immediately noticed his lack of armor, feeling somewhat naked with only his turian fatigues on. Something was on his face, too. He raised his hand to it and recognized a blotch of hardened medi-gel.

"You're finally up."

Doctor Chakwas stepped next to his bed. "You suffered a minor injury to your face and a small concussion. Nothing that will require any prosthetics like the last time."

"Good. I'd prefer not to look any more mauled."

Miranda joined Chakwas' side. "We lost contact with your squad around thirty minutes after you arrived on the station. Jacob and Grunt found the three of you unconscious and brought you back on board. You were fortunate to be wearing helmets. The amount of smoke in there would've killed you."

"What about Thane and Kasumi?"

"They woke up earlier," Chakwas said, "and they've returned to their rooms."

Garrus sat up and turned so that his legs dangled off the sides of the bed. "And Scipio? Shepard?"

A beep as EDI's avatar appeared by the door. "Five minutes after communications with your squad was lost, two freighters left Caesar Station in opposite directions and at maximum velocity, allowing us to intercept only one before the other jumped to FTL speeds. Unfortunately, the freighter we disabled was a decoy. It is assumed that everyone remaining on the station escaped aboard the other."

Miranda nodded. "Kasumi and Thane said that there was no sign of Shepard."

"Incorrect, Miss Lawson," EDI said. "I analyzed the data recorded by Officer Vakarian's hardsuit. It reveals something alarming."

Garrus furrowed his brow plates, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "What?"

"The biometric measurements were incomplete due to interference from the smoke, but I am certain that the person who attacked and incapacitated you is Commander Shepard."

Silence overtook the med-bay.

Garrus dropped his gaze. His immediate question was "why." There had to be some logical explanation. Shepard wouldn't attack his own squad out of malice. Not after everything. It had to be some kind of façade, or an act or— He took a deep breath; he wouldn't know until they found Shepard and asked him. But despite his attempts at rationalizing Shepard's sneak attack, Garrus couldn't help but feel a little betrayed.

The sound of Miranda's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "You're sure about this?"

"The measurements have a 97.29682 percent match with those initially recorded by the Lazarus Project upon its completion. Also, recorded footage of the attack, combined with records of Shepard's covert ops training, provides further evidence."

"And I guess he left with those Scipio people?" Garrus asked.

"It is safe to assume that he did."

Miranda turned and looked out the med-bay's windows. "It looks like that transmission was entirely correct. Shepard wasn't willing to leave, not with us." A small pause before she looked over her shoulder. "Speaking of which, EDI, did you finish the trace?"

"I did, Miss Lawson."

The ex-Cerberus operative turned around. "Good. Call the squad—and Joker—to the debriefing room. We'll discuss the results there."

* * *

Standing at Shepard's position at the head of the debriefing room's table was starting to feel somewhat awkward for Miranda. It was as if she didn't belong there, like she was usurping the man's position. As the first of the crew—Joker, of course—entered, she had to set that discomfort aside. She would have to be the strong, capable leader in Shepard's absence.

"So," Joker said. "I guess this is where we find out where it all went to hell?"

Miranda frowned, flicking a glance at the door as Jacob, Mordin, and Kasumi stepped inside. Garrus, Thane, and Legion joined shortly after. "As much as I hate to say it, yes."

She started speaking once Tali, Grunt, and finally Jack arrived. "We'll start with a debriefing on what happened in Caesar Station. Garrus?"

The turian nodded. "Kasumi, Thane, and I moved down a large corridor towards Shepard's position. Along the way, we snuck by or took down several guards apparently working for an organization called 'Scipio.' I had Kasumi accompany me to the room where Shepard was supposed to be. Then someone took us completely by surprise. He took down Thane, then Kasumi, then me. According to EDI…" Garrus paused, like he still didn't believe what he was going to say. "It was Shepard."

The atmosphere of tension, shock, and confusion from the med-bay recreated itself among the gathered crew, who engaged in a flurry of exchanged glances, murmurs, and denials. The only exceptions were Mordin, who seemed rather calm and inquisitive, and Grunt.

The krogan pounded his fists together and flashed a toothy grin. "You fought Shepard? Lucky bastards. You should've taken me along." His comment drew glares from Garrus and Joker.

"The rest of the Scipio presence abandoned the station shortly after," Miranda said, trying to bring their attention back to the debriefing. "It's assumed that Shepard left with them." She leaned on the table. "Do we know anything about Scipio?"

Kasumi pushed herself off her corner. "Well, Scipio's a reference to ancient Rome. That means we're dealing with a human organization. The guards on the station called it a secret one, too."

"I don't recall ever seeing any mention of 'Scipio' in Shepard's files." And Miranda had read through every single one of them. "No past history."

"Maybe your Cerberus records aren't as perfect as you think," Jack said.

"Perhaps." Miranda was willing to concede that there might have been parts of his history that Cerberus couldn't acquire.

EDI's avatar appeared on the table. "I searched my Cerberus databases and found a mention of the Scipio organization. The Illusive Man had noted it as a minor pro-human organization established within the last two years and a potential asset or aid to Cerberus' cause. Beyond that, I found no further information."

"Shep's making a habit of working with pro-human groups," Kasumi said. "Or getting roped into working with them, I hope."

Miranda leaned on the table. "EDI. You said you finished your analysis of the transmission that pointed us to Caesar Station?"

"Yes, Miss Lawson. I have traced it to Scott, the capital city of Terra Nova. It came from the estate belonging to Mister Samuel Yin."

Her eyes narrowed. "Samuel Yin?"

"Sounds like you've heard of him," Jacob said.

"He runs a small, but very expensive security company. Socialites and wealthy businesspeople hire his men when they can't afford to have other merc groups tarnish their reputation. He was one of Cerberus' donors until about two years ago, a few months after Shepard died. And I've met with him on business for the Illusive Man a few times, securing funding for Cerberus projects."

"Well." Kasumi folded her arms. "He certainly sounds the kind of guy who'd be involved in mysterious organizations and galactic intrigues."

Miranda nodded. "We don't have any other leads. We'll go to Terra Nova and meet with Yin, see if he had anything to do with the message." She looked at the pilot in his corner of the table. "Joker?"

"Yeah." He took a somewhat dejected-sounding breath. The information shared in the debriefing wasn't what he wanted to hear, Miranda supposed. "Yeah, I'm on it."

She watched him leave, resisting the urge to frown. As the door closed, she pushed herself off the table and looked at the rest of the crew. "I'll keep you informed of any new developments. Crew, dismissed."


	7. Chapter 6

**PART TWO: SCIPIO**

They said that being a hero made impossible to live a normal life. As the Hero of the Skyllian Blitz, Victor found that was all too true. Especially in Elysium's main square. "Lieutenant Shepard!"

More squealing. Victor turned around and found yet another pair of starry-eyed teenage girls inching towards him. The brunette cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke into the other girl's ear, but excitement probably made it impossible for her to whisper. Victor had to pretend he didn't hear the "He's even hotter in person."

The blonde shot her a glare. "Oh my god, shut up." She returned her gaze to Victor and attempted a cheeky smile. "Um, hi, sir. I was…" Her voice wavered. "I was wondering if we could get your autograph, please."

"Make it to Megan and Talia."

Victor cracked a forced smile, prompting an uncontrolled giggle from the brunette. "Sure." His omni-tool appeared around his right arm, and a holographic stylus in his left. A small window opened; he scribbled out their names and a stylized "V. Shepard" on it.

The girls checked their omni-tools for the results and squealed their thanks, then ran off.

He didn't want to admit it, but Victor enjoyed basking in his celebrity. It was a nice way to distance himself from his childhood in the slums of New York City—and the memories attached to it. A reminder that he had come a long way from that kid too scared to pull a trigger, that kid who fell in love with—

Victor shook his head. He wasn't in Elysium to indulge in his celebrity status or to sulk about his past. He had a job to do.

* * *

**VI.**

Terra Nova. Jacob didn't need Miranda's encyclopedic knowledge on Shepard to know what the man did there. A batarian terrorist tried ramming an asteroid into the planet, Shepard saved the day, like he always did, and cemented his name as the hero of yet another colony.

Shepard's hero status was the source of his musings while he watched the blurred buildings of Scott pass by beyond the shuttle's window. How would the colonists react to a ship called _Normandy_ arriving at their world? What if they found out that Shepard wasn't aboard? How would Alliance officials respond to the ship bearing Cerberus logos, if they knew about Cerberus at all?

And what about Shepard? What could he be doing that would make him attack his own crew?

He looked around the shuttle at his two companions. Naturally, one of them was Miranda, seated with all her usual poise to the right of Shepard's usual spot. Next to Jacob sat Garrus, hunched forward and talons entwined. He guessed what happened on Caesar Station had affected the turian more than the rest of the team; Garrus had served with Shepard the longest.

Jacob felt inertia push him forward as the shuttle decelerated and landed. The door opened to what he assumed was the Yin Estate: a palatial metal complex with a large garden out front. Kasumi would probably appreciate the artistry more than he could.

"Hm," Miranda said as the three stepped off the Kodiak. "Modern technologies and building materials, classical architecture."

A squad of guards approached from the main path leading to the front doors. Each of them wore gleaming white armor with a stylized black "Y" emblazoned on their chests and shoulder pads and carried well-polished assault rifles. "This estate is private property belonging to Mister Samuel Yin and Yin Security Services. State your name and business here."

Miranda folded her hands behind her back. "Miranda Lawson, I'm here for Mister Yin. Surely he remembers me from some of his business dealings."

"One second." The squad leader summoned his omni-tool and tapped a few keys. "Mister Yin? A woman calling herself 'Miranda Lawson' has arrived at the front landing pad and requests to meet with you, sir." A pause and a nod. "Very well, sir." He lowered his arm. "Mister Yin will see you in his office. I'll have to warn you beforehand that if you draw any weapons or use combat tech or biotics on the estate's grounds, we and the automated defenses will respond immediately and with lethal force."

"Understood," Miranda said.

"Follow us." The leader turned and started walking down along the silver path. The other guards split up to flank the three, two on the sides, two behind. Definitely took security seriously, Jacob noted. The whole incident could've been avoided if they had sent a message beforehand, but they figured that they had a better chance of figuring out the truth with an unannounced visit—keep them from preparing and "dressing things up."

The armed procession took Jacob, Miranda, and Garrus past the hedge maze garden, the black metal colonnade, and through two large obsidian doors. The interior of the estate looked like some kind of historical museum on Earth; stone-like columns lined every hallway, marble covered every inch of the floors and walls. This Yin had to have paid a fortune to get real marble shipped from Earth. Only the entrance consoles at every door gave away the estate's modern nature.

After several minutes of walking through corridors, standing in elevators, and passing security checks, they finally arrived at a pair of gold doors at the top floor. The leader spoke into his omni-tool again. "Sir, we've arrived with the guests. Shall I send them in?" A few seconds later, he muttered his "yessir" and opened the doors. "Enter."

Several haptic windows floating in the air around the desk disappeared as the three entered the lavishly decorated office. Jacob heard the doors shut behind them.

"Welcome to the Yin Estate. Do have a seat." The man behind the desk gestured to three leather chairs.

Samuel Yin regarded them with a calculating glint in his brown eyes that faintly reminded Jacob of the Illusive Man. The man appeared to be in his thirties, though Jacob knew from experience that tycoons tended to use surgery and genetic enhancements to delay aging. A mix of Asian and maybe Western European defined his facial features. "Miss Lawson, it is good to see you again." His voice was deeper in pitch than would seem fitting for a man of Yin's size. "How is the Illusive Man these days?"

"I no longer work for Cerberus. It's a long story."

Yin nodded, adjusting the gold-embroidered sleeves of his black suit. "I see." He offered Jacob and Garrus fleeting glances. "And who are these two?"

"Jacob Taylor," Jacob said.

"Garrus Vakarian."

"A pleasure. Now, Miss Lawson, I assume that your business at my estate has something to do with the transmission I sent to your ship?"

If the bluntness of Yin's words took Miranda by surprise, she didn't show it. "It does."

"Why did you contact us?" Garrus asked.

"Because," Yin said, shifting in his chair, "your commander has become a puppet. And I take issue with his puppeteer."

Garrus leaned forward. "You mean Scipio? I killed plenty of their soldiers on Caesar Station."

"And I'm glad you did. On a fundamental level, Scipio is quite similar to Cerberus, though far less well-funded, smaller, and they prefer putting other races down instead of building humanity up."

"You seem to know them well," Miranda said.

"Suffice to say that I was involved with them in their early days. I was under the impression that they were strictly intelligence-gathering. A thinktank. But…" Yin picked up a glass of water off his desk and swirled its contents around. "They're a violent group. Terrorists. Now I'm thinking you want to know what they want with Shepard. That's simple. I have it on good word that he's been keeping a secret for about seven years. Scipio knows it and is hanging it over his head to get him to undertake tasks too difficult for their own people."

"Blackmail," Jacob said. It was something of a relief. At least Jacob knew that Shepard wasn't doing all this of his own free will. "Just how big is this secret?"

"Its objective size is irrelevant. What's important is that it matters enough to Shepard that others can control him with it."

"What is it?" Miranda asked. "And why would they use Shepard? There are other soldiers just as skilled as he is."

Yin folded his hands on his lap and smiled. "I wouldn't know. I have some of my men in Scipio's ranks, but their surveillance capabilities are a bit limited. Maybe you should ask Shepard those questions when you find him. If you came for information on his whereabouts, I can help you with that."

Jacob narrowed his eyes. "You're really willing to help us out. Why?"

Yin's smile widened. "Because Scipio is full of idiots. I want to give them what they deserve. And for now, our interests align. Shepard is key to their plans, you want to bring him back, removing him from their grasp means their failure."

Jacob, Miranda, and Garrus exchanged furtive glances, and Jacob knew they were all thinking the same thing: there's something Yin wasn't telling them.

Miranda broke the long silence. "You said you know where Shepard is."

A haptic window appeared in front of Yin. "They're… sending him to Omega, to steal explosives from a Blue Suns cache. If you hurry, you may be able to intercept him. These explosives are nuclear; I suggest you bring them to my YSS bomb technicians on the station so they can safely dispose of the radioactive materials and safeguard them from any other Scipio agents."

Miranda glanced at Jacob, then Garrus. Jacob gave her a small nod; in his mind, could always ditch Yin if something better came up. Garrus nodded his agreement. Their leader looked back at Yin. "We'll contact you when we have the explosives."

"Excellent. Good hunting." Yin gestured behind the three. The same squad of guards from before surrounded them and motioned for them to leave.


	8. Chapter 7

"Hey."

Victor found Carlos Sanchez's Elysium Customs office a welcome contrast to Doctor Baldwin's on Caesar Station. Unlike the sterile white of the latter, Carlos had character in his workspace. Strange little krogan, turian, and batarian figurines, one for each kill the man had scored in the Blitz. Even ordinary personal effects, like a photo of his wife and daughter on the desk.

Carlos looked up from his computer. His bored stare quickly turned into a surprised grin. "Vic, it's been a while."

"Sure has," Victor said, leaning on the doorway. "How've you been?"

"Life's been all right. Lot less interesting than getting shot at by criminals and bombed out by fighters, that's for sure." Carlos rested his elbows on the table. "How's Elysium?"

Victor shrugged. "It's pretty much impossible for me to go around incognito. All these girls and women asking for my autograph or a picture…" He tugged at the neck of his gray t-shirt. "Or a kiss."

"Must've been awkward."

"To say the least."

"Why don't you just flat-out tell them that you're into men?"

"You think they'd believe me?"

"Probably not." Carlos took a sip out of his mug. "But I'm guessing you didn't stop by for a friendly visit. You need something?"

"Yeah, actually." Victor pushed himself off the doorframe and approached the desk. "I'm on a job right now. I need you to take a look at Elysium's customs records, see if a ship called the MSV _Snake Fang_ arrived here recently."

Carlos nodded. "MSV _Snake Fang_… just a second." He typed into his computer. Rows of orange text came streaming across the holographic screen. "Mmm…. nope. There's no mention of that ship in any of the records for the past several days." More typing. "Or the last few weeks."

So the _Snake Fang_ never arrived at Elysium. That, or it docked at an unauthorized landing zone. Victor didn't think that was possible for an Alliance-affiliated ship—unless someone had hijacked it, which he found highly likely. "I see. Thanks for your time."

"Anytime, Vic. I'll drop you a message if I find anything. Oh, and by the way, you gotta stop by more often when you're on leave. There's plenty of Armali Flame in the clubs here, and Ceci and Kate would die to meet you in person."

Victor offered him a warm smile as he turned to leave. "I'll try to remember that. Catch you later."

* * *

**VII.**

"I don't trust him."

Jacob's sentence broke the silence in Miranda's office. He pushed himself off the entrance, allowing the door to slide shut. "He was way too casual about the whole thing. Too prepared, like he was expecting us. Either he was flat-out lying to us, he was holding something back…"

"Or a little of both," Miranda said. "People like Yin probably know that the best lies are buried under several truths."

"True."

"The hard part…" Miranda took her hands off the keyboard. "Is determining what's true and what isn't. So far, everything is suspect."

"For all we know, Yin's actually working with Scipio and trying to throw us off."

Miranda glanced from Jacob to the information on her computer: security schedules for the Blue Suns warehouse that was supposed to have the bombs. "We can start by taking those explosives. I'm guessing Scipio lets Shepard handle their dirty work his way. And if I know Shepard, he would hit the warehouse in the middle of guard rotation. Twelve hundred Omega time."

"And if you're right and Yin's telling the truth, we'll find him then."

"Hopefully." She looked towards the corner of the room. "EDI. Tell Joker to plot a course for Omega."

"Understood, Miss Lawson."

* * *

_"The assassination of Tharin Ela'sha on Omega is the most recent link in a chain of murders of Batarian Hegemony officials. Ela'sha had come to Omega to lever a compromise between the Hegemony and the Terminus Systems regarding several contested border worlds. Sources claim that he was killed by an explosion in his apartment after a meeting with Eclipse mercenary captains. Evidence suggests foul play on the part of Eclipse."_

Yin closed the news feed.

* * *

Murphy found security at the Yin estate the biggest non-job ever. Nobody ever broke in, and if they did, the drones would be enough to deal with them. But in the words of Mister Yin himself, "Clients won't bother hiring you if you can't secure your own headquarters." So the estate had far more protection than it needed. But fortunately for Murphy, some of the supervisors were a little more lenient than the others, allowing him to slip away from his duties for a minute bathroom break.

Or what they thought was one, at least.

In the ridiculously lavish third-floor restroom, Murphy stepped into a stall and brought up his omni-tool. A push of a button—these things always needed to be as simple as possible to evade notice—opened up a messaging window, an encryption program, and a secure connection.

_Big Man has made a move. New pawns on the board. Requesting permission for TSY-06._

_Arrow

* * *

_

Calibrations. They always took Garrus' mind off things: his squad's death, sparing Sidonis, the attack on the Collectors. This time, he couldn't quite shake off recent events. Shepard had disappeared, run off to work with anti-alien terrorists because of a secret he wanted to hide.

"Garrus."

He turned around. "Oh, Tali. Sorry, I didn't hear the door open. Been busy… thinking over the past week and a half, since Caesar Station."

"I think we all have."

"I don't get it. Tali, you trust Shepard enough to tell him anything, right?"

The quarian took a seat on a crate toward the side—Shepard's usual spot when he came over. "I guess. I did tell him that I had a very silly…. uh, crush on him for the longest time, since we first met. Little did I know…"

"That he's in that small group of humans who prefer mating with others of their own gender." Maybe a joke would help ease his tension. "And those..." He gestured to Tali's chest. "Those protusions make you too similar to human females for his liking."

She chuckled. "Well, I was going to mention Joker, but yes. Anyways, you were saying?"

"I was saying that both of us have that same amount of trust in him. Which got me thinking, if Shepard was willing to join up with Scipio to keep something a secret, does that mean he doesn't trust us?"

Tali rubbed the side of her helmet. "Maybe this secret is bigger than you think. Than we think."

"So big that he's willing to attack us?"

The quarian fell silent. When she spoke, her tone was softer than before. "I don't know. What happened on Caesar Station… you've been thinking a lot about it, haven't you?"

Garrus sighed. "Yeah, I have. C-Sec and Omega taught me to expect the worst. Guess they didn't prepare me for a sneak attack from Shepard. Back at C-Sec, I always preferred acting to speculating. But this is a mystery I need solved, and I can't do much _but_ think about it."

"But we shouldn't judge him just yet. We don't know enough."

She was starting to sound like himself, when he was being more level-headed. "I guess." Shepard never judged him for wanting to kill Sidonis, even when he didn't have all the facts himself. He took a breath, letting the ship air calm him down. "I should probably get ready for that visit to the Blue Suns. Thanks for coming by. It was good to… get that all out."

Tali stood. "You're welcome. See you later."

* * *

The Blue Suns had definitely gone down in the world. At least on Omega, Hadriax decided. Under Tarak, the Suns grew, became stronger, feared, and thrived. They could have taken on Aria T'Loak herself, given time. But the plague in the slums and the vorcha that followed it wiped out too many of their number. And Archangel, before he bit the dust, murdered Tarak.

The Suns still had enough men to maintain a sizeable presence on the station, but it was painfully obvious that they had weakened. And Hadriax, once one of the group's elite, had been relegated to overseeing the security of their major weapons depot.

He sighed. At least Eclipse and the Blood Pack had suffered the same losses.

Hadriax paced around a catwalk overlooking the main warehouse. Why he had been assigned to a _security_ role was beyond him. Nobody in their right minds, not even the rival merc gangs, would dare attack a Blue Suns base. It was suicidal.

A sudden pained cry and the crumpling of a guard to the floor suggested otherwise, however. And two explosions that tore holes in the walls made it a lot more than a mere suggestion.

* * *

A spray of Vindicator fire heralded Garrus' charge into the warehouse. His burst took one Blue Sun down as Garrus ducked behind a crate. He glanced to the left. With a roar, Grunt rammed his armored head into a merc, then stepped back and blasted him in the face. The rest of the Suns seemed to forget about Garrus completely; all their fire was focused on the krogan.

Grunt's ferocious display was a diversion, of course. Garrus switched to his Mantis and took out a distracted Sun with a clean headshot. In the corner of his scope, a mass effect field enveloped the crate at the top of a stack and brought it down on a merc squad. Soon enough, stack after stack was collapsing, crushing the Blue Suns. At the center of the biotic storm was Jack, turning everything her powers could handle into weapons.

Shouting from above drew Garrus' attention. _"Attention, Cache O-zero-one is under attack. All available men, get your asses to the front on the—"_ A shot from the Mantis, and the turian tumbled off the catwalks and hit the floor with a crunch. Garrus thought the Suns got the gist of the call anyways.

He returned his focus to the main level. Jack had a last merc drifting in the air for Grunt to finish off. "Regroup in the center," he said. "Jack, make us some cover."

"Right." The biotic took several of her previously thrown or dropped crates and surrounded the squad with them.

Garrus returned the sniper rifle to his back and took the assault rifle. Grunt swapped his Claymore for a Mattock. "Remember, we don't want to kill the mercs too quickly, but not too slowly that they start to think we're stalling for time."

"So I shoot to hurt, not to kill." Grunt grinned. "I can do that."

The three took cover as the first of the reinforcements poured through the door and the holes. Garrus tapped his earpiece. "Kasumi, status."

* * *

"No problems so far," Kasumi said, looking down at the merc she just killed. "Did you expect me to have any? I can steal from the Blue Suns in my sleep."

_"Just making sure. Any sign of Shepard?"_

She took a glance around the back room. "Well, if he's here, he's doing a good job of hiding. He's got a cloak, too, after all."

_"Then stay alert. I don't want a repeat of Caesar Station."_

Her chest still ached from that encounter. "You can say that—"

_"Garrus out."_

"—again." She shrugged the interruption off; Garrus probably didn't have time to chat. Kasumi wasn't sure if a distraction team was necessary. She had snuck into more heavily guarded bases and gotten out undetected. But if the squad needed to vent their frustration towards Shep's behavior—or get their minds off it—then by all means, they could shoot all the Blue Suns they wanted.

In the meantime, she had bombs to steal.

Kasumi had broken into the "secure" section of the Blue Suns warehouse. Fortunately, the room mostly contained high-end, rare weaponry like Revenants, Widows, and Claymores in fancy cases. A scan for explosive materials would work nicely. She booted up her omni-tool and started up the appropriate program.

The readings spiked around a locker in the corner. Bypassing the security took seconds, and soon enough, she had three gray cylinders in a small container. She glanced over her shoulder. If Shepard was present and going for the bombs, now would've been the best time.

Not like she wanted him too, though. Kasumi slipped into her cloak and made her way out of the warehouse.

* * *

Jack's biotic shockwave sent several mercs flying, making them easy targets for Garrus and Grunt. The Suns' numbers were thinning, and through the din of bullets and biotics, Garrus overheard requests to retreat.

_"Kasumi here. I've got the goods. You can bust out anytime you want."_

"Got it. See you on the ship." He looked up at the other two. "Let's finish them off, then we can head out."

"I was just getting warmed up," Jack said.

As Jack turned the crates they had been using for cover into projectiles, Garrus and Grunt charged towards the exits, guns blazing. The sudden shift in tactics threw the remaining Suns into a panic. Garrus gunned them down while they ran away.

The three walked through the open front door, leaving the warehouse with silence and a lot of corpses.


	9. Chapter 8

Victor stepped out of the customs building into Elysium's nighttime streets. The search for the _Snake Fang_ had been a fairly linear investigation with clearly marked signs pointing to the next location. Not so now. Too many possibilities existed. Maybe the ship never arrived on Elysium, maybe it did, under a different name or at an unregistered spaceport. He could try exploring each situation, but that would take too long. Every day the _Snake Fang_ spent missing increased the chances of it and its payload ending up where it shouldn't be.

He needed to think, and outside wasn't the best place to do so. Victor still had his apartment. He started down the streets, ducking into a back alley for a shortcut. Elysium's alleys, unlike Earth's, were well-lit. And whatever gangs lurked there wouldn't dare try mugging Victor Shepard. Even still, he kept his hand close to the pistol concealed under his black jacket.

A few minutes of walking and stair climbing brought him in front of the door to his apartment in an upscale building. Victor punched in his access code and got his thumbprint scan, then stepped inside.

The door slid shut. Victor reached for the light switch.

Faint rustling from behind was all the warning he needed. Reflexes kicking in, he sidestepped a knife, whirled around, and caught the silhouetted arm. A hard twist prompted a pained cry from the attacker; a knee to the gut brought him to the floor. Victor followed up with a kick to roll him onto his back, then brought his foot down at where he saw the man's neck, outlined in the city lights from the window.

Ignoring the hands clawing at his shoe, Victor flicked the lights on. The man below him was Curt Weisman, of the Tenth Street Reds.

* * *

**VIII.**

"So there was no sign of Shepard?"

Jacob saw the frustration on Miranda's face grow more apparent with every second. She stepped away from the head of the debriefing room table.

"That's right," Kasumi said. "Maybe us being there drove him off."

Miranda sighed. "Or maybe Yin sent us on a wild goose chase after all."

Jacob folded his arms. "But if that was the lie, then why did he put us up to it? And is it a good idea handing them over to him?"

"I say we give them." Kasumi said. "But not before packing a tracking device, just so we know where he's taking them."

Jacob looked at a pacing Miranda. "I'll agree with your suggestion for now. Plant the devices and take two people with you to meet with Yin's techs, just in case. We don't want any trouble from the Blue Suns, so pick people who weren't in the distraction team. Afterwards, we'll return to Terra Nova. I need to have a word with Yin."

"Got it. Be back in a flash."

Kasumi turned around and left. Miranda started off as well.

"Wait," Jacob said.

"Yes?"

He leaned sideways on the debriefing room table. "You've always been up for taking charge. But now you don't seem so… enthusiastic."

Miranda took a step towards him. "Shepard helped me keep my sister away from my father. He stood up to the Illusive Man where I might not have. And he got everyone—including the crew—through the mission alive despite the odds. It's not because Shepard's shoes are too large for me to fill. It's because I respect the man too much to take his position." And with that, she left the debriefing room.

Her small speech honestly surprised Jacob. He had to guess that working under Shepard had brought about a few changes to the crew, himself included. Something to think about, he decided as he headed for the armory.

* * *

Months spent alone in dangerous and unfamiliar places ingrained certain habits in Tali. Her left hand never strayed too far from her pistol, her right from her shotgun. She had Chiktikka's deployment program on the verge of activation at all times. She never kept her gaze focused in one place too long.

While following Kasumi's lead through the streets of Omega, it was her roaming gaze that allowed her to spy a young batarian and a helmeted Blue Sun attacking an Eclipse merc. She looked at her companions and gestured to the fight. "Looks like the mercs aren't getting along."

"Typical for Omega," Mordin said. "Gang wars, minor skirmishes, keeps mercenaries in check, prevents one singular group from dominating Omega, balance of power. Always ends with civilian casualties. Unfortunate."

Tali returned her attention to the beggars, merchants, and mercs lining the rust-colored alleys. "Sounds like the Admiralty Board, in a way. Admiral Gerrel pushing for war with the geth, Admiral Koris wanting peace, Admiral Xen wanting to… control the geth… their in-fighting prevents their opinions from gaining too much ground."

"But," Kasumi said, "I'm guessing that the admirals don't leave a lot of dead people in their wake."

Tali nearly said "there was the _Alarei_." It was best not to bring that up. Instead, she went with "Generally not."

"And that fight you saw back there? Not a typical one on Omega."

Tali stopped whirled around at the sound of the strangely familiar voice. A red-armored batarian leaned on a wall, fidgeting with a cigar between his fingers. "I thought I recognized your voice. You're the quarian with Shepard, right?"

"What if I am?"

"Charn. I was in Balak's gang, when he tried crashing that asteroid into the human colony."

She narrowed her eyes. The mission to Asteroid X57 was a faint memory, but she never forgot it. Not after the way it shook Shepard for some reason he refused to explain. "Right. Shepard convinced you to take your men and leave."

"He promised I'd take over the gang. Instead, he let Balak go and continue being crazy elsewhere, the asshole." Charn lowered his gaze for a moment. "But now with all the high-profile murders on this station, a dozen Balak wannabes are cropping up all over the place. Did you know that some batarian kid blew himself up in front of a few Eclipse bosses as revenge for some diplomat's assassination?"

"What do you want?"

Charn shrugged. "Conversation? That, and I was hoping you'd tell me where to find Shepard. I need a word with him about keeping his promises."

"We really don't have time for this," Kasumi said, thankfully. Tali didn't want to make up an excuse to cover up Shepard's disappearance.

Tali nodded. "Agreed. Let's get moving." She barely heard Charn's retort as the group headed further into Omega's crowds.

* * *

Jacob glanced at the door to the CIC. "Huh. Never thought I'd see you walking around while the ship's moving."

"EDI's got it covered," Joker said. "She told me I needed a break. Next thing I know she'll be trying to tuck me into bed, but she was right. About the break, I mean."

Jacob shrugged. "It's easy to just… lose yourself in working when shit like this is going on, when it's happening to people important to you and you can't do anything about it. Happened to me after I met up with my father on Aeia."

"You didn't seem all broken up about it."

"It's these guns," Jacob said, holding up a pistol. "You wouldn't know it by just looking at them, but calibrating them is good for stress relief. 'Channeling frustrations,' that kind of thing." He set the pistol on the workbench and took a spot across the rifle table from Joker. "So. You holding up all right?"

With a bit of understandable caution, Joker leaned his elbows on the table. "Kinda feels like it's those two years all over again. Well, I guess better, since Victor's alive. Wish I could punch him when you get him back. But I guess I can go for a nice womanly finger-wagging." He sighed. "Don't tell me, I already know. I'm the goddamn woman in this relationship."

Jacob wasn't sure if a joke was appropriate for the situation, but he decided to give it a shot. "You're not the one who subscribes to that men's fashion magazine."

To his relief, Joker cracked a smile, albeit a somewhat forced one. "Yeah, guess that's true."

"Mister Taylor," EDI said. "Miss Lawson requires your presence in the hangar bay for preparations for the visit to the Yin Estate."

Jacob nodded and strode over to the weapons locker. "I'll be there." He glanced over his shoulder. "Honestly, Joker?" The drawer with his weapons sprang open. "What you have going on with Shepard, I only know that it's there, but nothing else. Never really thought it was my business; Kasumi's the nosy one."

"She doesn't even need to poke around. Victor tells her everything. He's like her gay best friend."

"Heh." He pulled his shotgun and pistol out and attached them to their usual spots. "But if you need to talk, I'm here."

* * *

Miranda pursed her lips as she stepped off the Kodiak shuttle. The Yin estate seemed… empty. No guards on the grounds.

"Something's up," Jacob said. "It's too quiet."

Garrus shook his head. "The guards mentioned automated defenses the last time we were here. If there was an attack, there would be turrets or drones all over the place."

"It could be an ambush or a trap." Miranda placed her hand on her pistol, but kept it clipped to her belt. "Stay close."

Miranda led the squad through the open doors.

"They wouldn't just leave the doors like that," Garrus said.

The interior of the estate was equally silent, save for the large number of Yin Security Services guards scattered in pools of blood on the marble floors. Miranda narrowed her eyes at the sight. Garrus knelt down beside one of the corpses and turned it over.

"Gunshot to the back of the head. No other wounds."

"Same here," Jacob said, also inspecting a corpse. "Now we know for sure. This place was attacked. Maybe it's still under attack. The wound looks fresh."

Miranda unhooked her pistol. "We'll have to find Yin. EDI, can you get us a fix on Samuel Yin's location?" Nothing but static answered her. "Whoever's doing this must be blocking communications."

"That sounds familiar." Garrus stood and summoned his omni-tool. "I can recreate the estate's layout so we can head for Yin's office." A few button presses created a holographic floor plan on the marble. The turian pointed to a small room on the tenth floor. "There. We can get there by taking the guards' elevator…"

"Good," Miranda said. "Let's move."

Past the intersection at the center of the main level, each and every hallway was filled with more dead guards and destroyed drones. A lone corpse of a Scipio soldier said it all.

"Down at the end of the hallway." Garrus took the lead, jogging slightly towards a door. He pressed his omni-tool to the access panel next to it. A shower of sparks, and the door opened.

The three rushed inside the elevator. Miranda hit a button on the console for the tenth floor.

"Let's hope Scipio didn't get to Yin," Miranda said, though the odds were that they did. "We still have plenty of questions for him."

The pleasant, yet monotonous sound of a VI's synthesized voice drew her attention for a moment. _"Tenth floor."_

The door opened. Entering Yin's office was unnecessary.

Because in the middle of the hallway, Yin knelt with his hands bound behind his back.

And standing behind him, holding the restraints in one hand with a pistol in the other, was Victor Shepard.


	10. Chapter 9

"Weisman?"

The man grinned. "Heh. Glad to see you still remember me. Thought being a big, bad, hero bled out all of the old Victor in you."

Victor wished it was so. They were a past he hated remembering. Thinking of them always led him back to the roof above the alley, where childish fear prevented him from shooting a target, costing the gang a huge arms deal and getting him kicked out. Thinking of them always brought back memories of his first relationship, of O'Connor and what they used to have.

He pressed his foot down harder. Weisman squirmed and coughed. "Why the hell are you here?"

"Making your day. You're looking for the _Snake Fang_, right? Well, that ship's now property of the Reds." Victor opened his mouth, but Weisman cut him off with "He wants to see you again."

That last sentence stirred something in him, though Victor let none of that appear on the surface. Still, it was enough for him to withdraw his foot and let Weisman stand up. "O'Connor?"

Weisman rubbed his throat. "We're a lot bigger than we used to be. We've got ears now. One of them heard that you of all people were looking for the ship. O'Connor wanted me to point you towards him."

"Bullshit. Why attack me, then?"

"Stupid me thought I could pin you down and talk to you. The less chance of you shooting me, the better. So if you don't believe me, then go down to the spaceport. There'll be a shuttle at Dock 975. Its computer's got the coordinates for the _Snake Fang_."

Victor reached into his jacket and pulled out his pistol. "If you don't want me to shoot you, then you'll take me to the spaceport and show me you're not wasting my time."

* * *

**IX.**

"Shepard," Miranda said. Weapons pointed with the slightest hint of uncertainty at him, the squad inched further into the hallway.

The man looked up at her and her squad. "Dammit."

There he was, in the same black armor he always wore, speaking with the same tone of voice he always used as the _Normandy_'s commanding officer. Yet the way he had Yin on the floor made him seem more like an executioner than a commander, a stranger than a friend.

A look betraying a frustration she never believed Shepard capable of entered his eyes. "Look. If you want an explanation, then you shouldn't bother. Just go back to the _Normandy_ and wait there. None of this is any of your business."

"It became our business," Garrus said, stepping forward, "when you abandoned your crew without a word, then attacked your own team."

Jacob kept his pistol trained near Shepard's head. "Just tell us what's going on."

Shepard's arms started an almost unnoticeable tremble as the man gritted his teeth. "I said that this doesn't concern you. Leave. That's an order."

"Charge us with insubordination, then," Miranda said. "Shepard, this isn't you. What are you doing? What are you hiding from us?"

"What?"

He seemed genuinely surprised that Miranda knew that information. Perhaps Yin was being truthful on that account. "What's so important about this secret that you run off and work with Scipio, then attack your crew in order to protect it?"

Shepard looked down at Yin. "You told them that, didn't you?"

Yin made no response.

Shepard didn't give him another chance. He whipped the pistol against the side of Yin's head. The tycoon grunted as his body crumpled to the floor. Shepard looked back up at Miranda. "I don't owe you any explanation." Miranda flicked a glance downwards; the Phalanx's targeting laser painted a faint blue dot at the dead center of her chest. "I'll tell you one more time. Go. Now. I'll do what I have to, even if I don't enjoy it."

This was the man who had led the team through hell and back without a single—

The sound of breaking glass was Miranda's only warning before blinding light and an ear-piercing screech.

By the time both subsided, Miranda opened her eyes to a blurred mess. It took several seconds for the hallway to become recognizable once more and for the ringing in her hears to stop. Yin was gone. Shepard darted down towards the other end of the corridor and vanished into thin air.

"Dammit," Garrus said. "Got away again."

Jacob walked to where Yin was and picked something up off the floor. He turned around with the charred remains of a metal sphere in his hand. "Looks like a flashbang. Yin's guards probably came for him. Maybe Scipio." His gaze turned up to Miranda. "So what's our next move?"

"Yin probably has quite a good deal of information. Maybe we can find more about him and Scipio." She pressed on her earpiece. "EDI, can you break into any of Yin's secure databases and run a search for information on Scipio or Shepard?"

To her relief, the AI responded. _"Yes, Miss Lawson."_

"Try going through Yin's communications, too."

"Understood."

Miranda lowered her hand, then looked toward the spot where Yin and Shepard were. "Did anyone else notice that Shepard looked almost… scared?"

"He just kept repeating himself." Jacob said. "Whatever this secret is, it has to be big if it got the Commander as panicked as he was."

"Scared, panicked." Garrus returned his rifle to his back, then stroked his mandibles. "Not words I'd associate with Shepard."

_"Yin's databases possessed a relatively weak security layer. I have gained full access,"_ EDI said. _"I have found a large amount of data on the Scipio organization, including the location of its main base, its founder and current leader, and what Yin believes Scipio was forcing Shepard to do."

* * *

_

Victor boarded the black and blocky Atlas shuttle with heavier steps than usual, giving the Scipio soldier only the faintest of nods. The black-clad troop returned it before heading into the cockpit.

Like chess players, they were playing him and the crew against each other. And Victor Shepard, for the first time since the _Snake Fang_, felt completely powerless. What could he do? Defy Scipio, have the details of the _Snake Fang_ mission revealed to the whole galaxy, maybe even worse?

All because of that message.

* * *

_"Shepard:_

_When you read this message, you will delete it immediately after finishing it. You will go to the location mentioned in it. And you will tell none of your crew about it._

_I know you will because you'll have read this word:_

_Alesh'Khal."_

_The mention of that word brought back bitter memories that Victor spent years trying to forget. The self-loathing and humiliation that came with them. It brought forward every single possibility if the details were ever brought to light. And the simple use of it in the message suggested that the sender would do just that if Victor didn't answer._

_"I will meet you where it began." Caesar Station._

_Victor deleted the message, then headed into the bathroom for the fastest shower of his life. Afterwards, he went down to the drawers containing his armor next to the bed. The sound of sliding metal did nothing to disturb Joker. Good; Victor didn't want to have to ignore his questions if he woke up. He slipped into a routine bred of a hundred missions, though took care to minimize the noise. First the fabric armor weave. Then the chestplate, the greaves, the shoulder guards, the gauntlets, the thermal clip pack. Finally, Victor slid his combat visor into place over his ear. The holographic readout dropped down in front of his left eye._

_Another button popped open another locker. One by one, Victor took his weapons from their containers and clicked them into place on his armor. The Widow and arc projector on his back. Phalanx on his left side. Locust on the right._

_He knelt down beside the bed and kissed Joker's head before making for the elevator.

* * *

_

Victor thought she was doing him a favor when she kept the files on the _Snake Fang_ mission to herself. Instead, she used them as the tightest leash anyone could put around his neck. Not even the Illusive Man, who dared to offer him a smidgeon of his trust, was as controlling.

But then again, what the Illusive Man was forcing him into vastly differed from her plans.

* * *

_"Welcome back to Caesar Station. Follow me, I'll bring you to the boss."_

_Victor tailed the black-clad guard into the familiar long hallway. "A year after your little screw-up," the man said. The reference to that mission brought a scowl to Victor's face; a _little _screw-up? "Eclipse took over this station, shot everyone dead, and tried replicating the weapons research. They earned a lot of money after their stunt in the Anhur Rebellions, and they apparently wanted to use it. Flash forward to '83, and we came in and booted Eclipse out."_

_The guard continued babbling while Victor appraised his surroundings. Caesar Station wasn't at all as he remembered. A once-well lit, sterile white corridor had become darkened and rusted. Instead of workers, researchers, and mechs, guards roamed the floor. Even more lined the catwalks above. Once well-organized stacks of crates had grown haphazardly clustered. Eventually, Victor and his escort reached a door at the end—the entrance to what was Doctor Baldwin's office._

_"The boss is waiting for you inside. Don't try anything."_

_The guard pressed a button on the access console. The door opened._

_"It's good to see you again, Shepard."_

_For the first few seconds, Victor couldn't believe it. The woman had a few more gray streaks in her hair and creases on her face, but those bird-like eyes were the same. Out of the thousand questions forming in his head, he could only ask one: "Admiral?"_

_That same measured smile drew upon Anna Whitwell's thin lips. "Not anymore." His former commanding officer gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "Have a seat, and I'll tell you all about it."_

_Victor, still dumbfounded, complied. "I'm more interested in why you had me come here."_

_"It all ties together. Why I resigned my commission, why you're here…" Whitwell scooted her chair forward. "I resigned because the Alliance was too wrapped up in Council matters, too concerned with building itself up to focus on threats from outside Citadel space. I founded this organization, Scipio, not long after your supposed death to do what the Alliance couldn't."_

_"Sounds like Cerberus."_

_Whitwell pursed her lips. "Cerberus is willing to destroy _human_ colonies to achieve its goals. Don't think I don't know what happened on Chasca; I got that report just as Admiral Hackett did. Scipio, conversely, is only concerned with the elimination of the batarian race as a threat to human interests. Just as Scipio Africanus eliminated Hannibal, and his son Carthage as threats to Rome more than two thousand years ago." A pause, then a soft chuckle. "I'm sorry. I'm something of an aficionado for ancient history."_

_"Spare me the lecture." Probably out of some lingering loyalty to his former CO, Victor found it somewhat more difficult to cut to the point than usual. Whitwell had always been a severe, results-at-all-costs woman. But Victor would have never believed… "So you've become a terrorist?"_

_She scowled. "Shepard, please. That's such a charged word. We simply believe in accomplishing our goal in the most efficient way possible. Debate goes nowhere; you can't argue with a batarian without him pulling a gun on you if you even slightly disagree. Large-scale attacks provoke similar acts on our own people. Our methods, the way I see it, are the best." A button press brought up a small haptic window to her side. "Now, as for why you're here…"_

_"Out with it."_

_"The Batarian Hegemony and the Terminus Systems have been contesting several border worlds for years. In the following weeks, the batarians will be sending several diplomats to Omega to lever concessions and compromises out of the various criminal bosses on the station. I want you to eliminate a few of these diplomats and pin the assassinations on the bosses, anything you need to do to ensure that the negotiations fail and that hostility between the batarians and the Terminus skyrockets."_

_He was supposed to murder to keep the _Snake Fang _a secret. Victor leaned forward in his chair. "You want a start a war between those two?"_

_"For now, I only want the Hegemony to stop funding terrorist organizations in the Terminus. Without the money, those groups will die and cease attacking human colonies."_

_"And why do you need me? You can probably hire any assassin you want."_

_Whitwell smiled. "With you, I don't have to pay a single credit, thanks to those files on the _Snake Fang_ and Alesh'Khal. An excellent bargain for someone of your skills. Long-range infiltration, tactical elimination of a target…" Whitwell looked up from the window. "The skills you honed in N7 training. The training _I _recommended you for in the first place."_

_Whitwell summoned several other windows. "Now. These are the officials I need you to kill. I'll give you everything you need to know: locations, addresses, itineraries… Just like old times."

* * *

_

His first targets weren't batarians, however, but his own team. The smoke cover he used in the fight was just as much for obscuring them as it was for hiding himself. Reducing the visibility didn't make attacking Thane, Kasumi, and Garrus any easier, however.

So "it was for the best" became his mantra for the following two weeks. When he knocked Thane out with a cloaked blow to the head, threw a concussive grenade at Kasumi, and seared Garrus' nerves with a tech attack, he told himself it was for the best. When he sent a bullet from his Widow into a target's head or rigged datapads to explode, it was for the best. When he stared Miranda, Jacob, and Garrus down and told them to mind their own business, it was for the best.

Whenever he thought back to the Captain's cabin on the _Normandy_, leaving Joker without a word…

Victor shook his head, then leaned back in his seat. He hoped that he could sleep his guilt off on the trip back to Elysium.

An abrupt deluge of ice cold water jolted Yin awake. His senses returned to him one by one. Feeling: metal binding his wrists and ankles. Taste: dried blood in his mouth. Sight: a darkened room with a table in front of him and a familiar woman sitting on the other side.

And hearing: "It's been a while, Samuel Yin."


	11. Chapter 10

"There you go," Weisman said. "See? I wasn't lying."

Victor appraised the _Kamchatka-_class shuttle before them, its polished, sleek white hull shimmering in the lights of the dock and highlighting its triple-winged shape. _Kamchatkas,_ due to their high-performance FTL drives, were usually owned by rich politicians or corporate executives. "You told me that the Reds have grown. Didn't know they grew enough to afford something like this."

Unless they had funding, or someone pulling their strings. Weisman shrugged. "Eh, we get benefits from guys in suits now."

Still the same clueless idiot he remembered; Weisman proved Victor's hunch correct. He probably should've suspected it earlier. There was no way in hell the Reds could've come up with this on their own. Under the Old Man, they might've, but not under O'Connor. Definitely not under him. "Open it up," he said.

Weisman tapped a key on his omni-tool, and a boarding ramp dropped down from the shuttle's belly. Victor followed the Red into an equally polished white passenger hold, then a cockpit flooded with cutting-edge flight instruments.

"The coordinates of the _Snake Fang_ are programmed into the shuttle," Weisman said as he settled down in one of the two black leather seats.

Victor linked up his omni-tool to the shuttle's computers. Soon enough, he found the coordinates and ran a quick check; he didn't want to be flying right into an obvious trap. A small haptic window appeared above his arm.

"Alesh'Khal."

* * *

**X.**

"It's been a while, Samuel Yin."

Anna Whitwell watched the man regain his bearings, then turn his gaze up to her. "Whitwell. You succeeded at capturing me. Scipio accomplished something after all." His words had a slight slur to them, but Whitwell still sensed Yin's typical smugness in his tone.

She pursed her lips and pulled down the sleeves of her white business suit. "You act like you're at your little desk. Unfortunately for you, you're not. You're my captive."

"It seems so." He glanced around the room. "Compliments to Shepard for a very well-executed attack on my estate. My men had no idea what they faced until it was too late. And I assume he takes credit for a flawless capture."

"I don't have time to indulge your assumptions." Whitwell set her datapad on the table and took her seat. "You had Shepard's crew steal three nuclear explosives from the Blue Suns, then deliver it to your men. Why?"

A weak chuckle from Yin. "You know me."

She supposed it was too much to hope that he would've given up on his delusions. "So you're still chasing the idea that a full-scale war between the Alliance and the batarians would somehow benefit humanity."

"And you're still chasing the idea that a few bullets could solve all our problems."

Not a conversation she had in a while. And certainly not one she _wanted_ to have.

* * *

_"Have you ever read Flannery O'Connor? She believed that in order to illustrate a point to the hard-of-hearing and almost blind, one needed to create loud sounds and big pictures. What you're doing is just a dot on the canvas. A faint note in _pianissimo_."_

_Whitwell frowned, leaning forward in her desk. "Your point?"_

_"Assassination. Intelligence gathering. Espionage. That'll do absolutely nothing." Yin smiled. "Instead, we show them that we do what they do better. Take Mindoir, for example. Batarians wipe out our colony? We wipe out ten of theirs. Or Balak. He tried crashing an asteroid into Terra Nova? We crash two into Kar'Shaan."_

_Idiocy of the highest sort. Whitwell only stared from across the desk. "And cause a _war_ between our races?"_

_"The Alliance is stronger than the Hegemony. And now we have the entire Citadel under our control. It will be costly, but we'll win in the end. _Then_ they'll no longer be a threat to us."

* * *

_

Stevens barked a harsh laugh, filling his cup with more water. "Then we tossed a flashbang through the window, got in, grabbed Yin, and made off. And that's how we succeeded where the great Commander Shepard failed."

Becher folded her arms. "So Yin's here right now?"

"That's right, and the boss is having a word with him."

"Hm." Becher fell silent for a moment, considering that sentence. She glanced back at Stevens. "Hey, can you cover for me? I just remembered that I… promised Larson to help him calibrate his gun."

"Sure thing."

She stepped out of the rather small mess and made for the barracks. Underneath her bunk lay a small container of innocuous items.

Becher took another glance at the door, then got to work.

* * *

"_I_ am trying to save lives. Prevent more Mindoirs and Terra Novas and Watsons from ever happening again. _You_ would have us all wiped out if that meant that one human survived."

"Short-term thinking. Yes, many would die, but how many more would live?"

"Unnecessary sacrifices." Whitwell took a breath, trying her best to maintain her composure. She wasn't going to argue with Yin about their differences in method. He had information, an agenda, a plan. "Now. The bombs. Where did you send them, what are you using them for?"

"You could certainly do better with this interrogation if you actually added some pain into the equation."

Whitwell folded her arms on the table. "I have standards, standards that you obviously lack. I also have an offer. Shepard's crew has probably used their high-end Cerberus technology to comb your databases. They probably know what kind of operation you've been running. They also probably know how you used them, how you pitted them against their commander. And they probably want to see you dead." She leaned forward. "And if Shepard eliminated most of your estate's guard with minimal backup, how will you and the rest of your men fare against a small army of individuals nearly as skilled as he is?"

Yin narrowed his eyes. "Your point?"

"My point is that I'm willing to help you. Tell me where you placed the bombs and I'll get Shepard's crew off your trail."

That drew a chuckle. "Oh? After everything you still want to help me?"

He had a point. Their last meeting didn't end on the best of terms.

* * *

_"Samuel Yin, I will no longer require your services."_

_"What?"_

_Whitwell shifted in her chair, hands folded on her lap. "You heard me. You've been a valuable asset in funding Scipio, but your opinions run counter to the ideals of this organization. I spent many years in the military. Unity and cohesion are key to success, and I can't have anything threaten them. You are dismissed. Any of your men are free to leave as well."_

_Yin slowly stood, his expression unreadable, but his fists clenched. "If that's what you want." He made for the door. Before stepping through, he glanced over his shoulder. "Shame. Scipio could've accomplished something with my help."_

_With that, he stepped out, leaving the faint humming of electronics the only noises in Whitwell's office.

* * *

_

_"PS-Omega_

_E. Becher"_

Gulati stared at the message for a few moments, before glancing over his shoulder at the Scipio base's emergency exit door. So they were really gonna do it. Gulati took a breath and punched another code into his omni-tool.

* * *

Becher worked her omni-tool minifacturing programs to their limits, trying to assemble her goods before anyone noticed. So far, so good. Most of her materials had been incorporated, she just needed time to—

"Becher?"

She glanced up. "Stevens."

"What are you doing?" he asked, approaching her bunk. "I thought you were helping Larson with—" He glanced down at the cylinders in her hands. "What—"

A pop from her pistol—Scipio agents always had silencer x-mods installed on their guns—and Stevens collapsed, a bleeding hole where the tungsten bullet pierced his armor. Becher dragged the fresh corpse off to the side; with what was coming, there was little need for subtlety. She knelt down and got back to work.

* * *

"So no. I don't want or need your help. Shepard's crew only wants the commander back on their ship. They don't see me important enough to go after. I think I'm better off on my own."

Whitwell resisted the urge to smile. Part of her hoped that Yin would reject the deal. Another part of her looked forward to playing the trump card. Yes, she had standards: no torture. But those standards didn't rule out other kinds of pain. "You act like you know what you're talking about. But in reality, you're scared. You're paranoid that batarians like Balak will try ramming another asteroid into Terra Nova, so you need to act first. Is that it?"

Silence. Not entirely typical of Yin.

"Or maybe you simply want revenge for what the batarians did to you personally. Slaughter the entire race for the actions of a few. Is that it?"

She noticed Yin tense at that. This time, she smiled. "So that _is_ it. Paint big, startling pictures for the batarians, just like the big, startling pictures they painted for you on Caiaphas." An omni-tool appeared on her arm just as Yin started clenching his teeth.

"You have no right to talk about that."

"But I do. And you always relive Caiaphas. In your dreams, in your waking hours." She tapped a few keys on the omni-tool, bringing up a small window just below the single light dangling over the table. "You can also relive it in reality."

"No—"

Whitwell jumped to her feet, slamming her fist on the table. "Then _tell me where the bombs are._ Tell me what you're planning to do with them. You can avoid all this if you—"

The sound of an explosion cut her off.

She snapped her gaze upwards. "What?"

When she looked back down at Yin, the man's barely hidden anxiety had given way to something else entirely. He straightened his posture, a wide grin on his face and half-maddened laughter coming from his mouth. "That's the sound of makeshift explosives distracting your men while mine come in and slaughter them. Protocol Scipio-Omega. To be enacted by my infiltrators in the event I'm ever captured by Scipio."

No. A horrible miscalculation. She underestimated the determination of his men. She overestimated his distrust of them. A horrible miscalculation. A fatal mistake. Only her years of military experience kept her from panicking.

But she wouldn't let Yin win the game. "They'll be rescuing a corpse." A hand cannon flew into her palm, and she pressed its nuzzle into his temple.

A familiar voice. "No."

Whitwell glanced left. "Becher" was all she could process before a hail of bullets from an assault rifle of a Scipio soldier tore her to pieces.

Just like that, Scipio had been destroyed.


	12. Chapter 11

_Alesh'Khal Colony  
Species: Mixed, predominantly batarian, notable percentages of elcor, turian, and asari, negligible hanar and human presence  
Colony Founded: 2091 CE  
Population: 6.1 million  
Capital: Thashaar_

Victor reviewed the planet's information intently, though he made sure to glance over to Weisman in case he tried anything stupid while piloting the shuttle. That wasn't likely, given how Victor kept his pistol pointed at the man.

Alesh'Khal was a world on the border of the Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony, contested by both parties. Typical of the Terminus, numerous mercenary organizations both major and minor had established presences on the colony. Great; the two worst places for an Alliance soldier to be, all rolled up into one planet.

"The Snake Fang's docked at Kalarath Station in orbit," Weisman said. "The Blue Suns run the station. You should probably hide anything that says you're Alliance."

"Already took care of that." He hadn't carried real identification with him since leaving the _Munich_ a week ago. The real danger was some upstart recognizing him as the one who held off the assault on Elysium. "So. You willing to talk about what the Reds are doing with the ship?"

"Honestly, no idea. The boss isn't telling us anything, just 'do this' and 'do that.' Pretty sure it's something big, though."

Victor saw nothing to suggest he was lying. "And what does O'Connor want with me?"

Weisman chuckled. "You mean you forgot how you two were fag fuck-buddies back then?"

Of course he didn't, as much as he wanted to. Victor still scowled at the label. "He's taking a pretty big risk, bringing an Alliance soldier to a ship the Reds stole from the Alliance."

"Guess he thinks seeing you again is worth it."

"We'll see." Part of him still thought Weisman had to be lying, and there had to be some other reason he was leading him on. "Take us in to dock."

Weisman tossed him an amused look. "Whatever you say, Lieutenant."

* * *

**XI.**

This was probably how Miranda and the others felt upon arriving at the Yin estate.

The main Scipio base on Elysium was a smoking wreck filled with black-armored corpses, most ridden with bullets, some broken over railings and slumped against walls. All of them gave blank stares at nothing. At the sight of a few white-clad bodies among the rest, a strange sense of dread filled Victor's gut. But why, he wondered. He should probably be happy or at least a little relieved that Yin had taken care of Scipio for him. And now wasn't the time to start getting Stockholm.

Victor stepped over another corpse as he boarded an elevator.

* * *

_Whitwell mused over a haptic window containing a Scipio task report with the vaguest hint of a smile—one that Victor was familiar with, but now it carried some threatening air about it. After a silent minute, she tapped the window. It rippled, shrank and faded. "Excellent work with the batarian diplomats."_

_"I did what you asked. Are we done?"_

_"Not quite." Whitwell summoned another window with a press of a button on her desk. "An old acquaintance of mine is starting to act up again. Samuel Yin, owner of Yin Security Services on Terra Nova. He was one of Scipio's original members; we benefited greatly from his wealth. But…" She leaned back against her chair. "He started disagreeing with our methods. He believed… believes in outright force, attacks on the scale of Balak's attempt on Terra Nova. He got so vocal about his idiocy that I dismissed him. Now, he's using his security company as his own veritable terrorist organization"_

_Victor wanted to say "like yours."_

_Whitwell folded her hands on her lap. "Interestingly, my moles in his estate have informed me that Yin has contracted the assistance of your crew. Somehow, Yin put them up to stealing bombs from the Blue Suns."_

_"Maybe he offered to tell them where I was. Or told I'd be there."_

_"Perhaps." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "Regardless, he's bent on starting a war between the Alliance and the batarians. I need you to eliminate his men and capture him so I can find out what he's up to."_

_"Why Yin? Wouldn't it be easier to capture one of his guards?"_

_She shook her head. "Yin has… a hard time trusting subordinates. He wouldn't entrust any of his men with anything more than the smallest details of his plans. Now, if you find your crew with him…"_

_"I'll deal with them." Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that._

_Whitwell reached into a desk drawer. "Good." She pulled out a small datapad, then handed it to Victor. From what he saw, it contained building schematics, maybe more. "Everything you'll need to know about the Yin estate and Yin Security Services is in there. The shuttle at the landing pad you arrived on will take you to Terra Nova."

* * *

_

The sight of Anna Whitwell's body tossed over a table like a ragdoll confirmed Victor's suspicions when he stepped into the interrogation room. He felt a pang of guilt, immediately scolding himself for doing so. The woman blackmailed him, turned him against his crew, and he was feeling _guilty_ out of some sense of old loyalty.

Shaking his head, Victor turned and left for Whitwell's office a floor above. The door had been left ajar. Staying away from it for now, He tapped the side of his visor for a scan, just in case. His hunch proved correct: a lone human stood towards the back of the room, as if facing Whitwell's desk.

He unclipped his SMG, rerouted his shield power to his cloak, activated it, and entered. A Scipio soldier was hunched over the desk, gazing at a cluster of information-filled windows. Victor stepped closer, then arced around the room until he was behind the man.

A copy operation. Maybe he was trying to back up Scipio data. No, from the looks of the windows on his omni-tool, it looked like he was sending the data to… Yin Security Services.

So Yin had some of his men in Scipio, just like Whitwell had some in YSS.

All right, now he was curious. Victor grabbed the man by the back of his head and slammed his face into the desk. The sudden attack drew a startled, pained grunt and dropped Victor's cloak. Pinning him there, he pressed the Locust's muzzle against his helmet.

Victor stared down at him. "Who are you?"

"Yin Security Services," he said, his speech slurred by the blunt trauma to his head, "one of Mr. Yin's informants in Scipio. Gulati."

"What happened here?"

"Whitwell was interrogating Yin, we rescued him."

"By wiping out the entire base?"

"That was the protocol. Scipio-Omega. Attack Scipio with full force in the event Mister Yin is ever captured by Scipio."

Full force. That sounded much like Yin's philosophy. An idea struck. "Then you can tell me where Yin is now."

Gulati chuckled. "Yin wanted to me to tell you where he is. Said he likes stringing you along like that. Pretty sure you know the place." He took a breath, coughing a little. "Alesh'Khal."

"Why?" Victor raised his tone, as if to hide the chill that just ran down his spine at the mention of that place. His grip on the Locust tightened.

"Can't tell you anything else. I don't know."

Yin didn't trust his subordinates with anything but the small details of his plans, Whitwell had told him. Gulati was probably telling the truth on that account. And that meant he was useless now.

"Maybe this is a stupid question," Gulati said, "but can you let me go?"

"You're working for Yin. That makes you an acceptable loss."

A thermal clip's worth of tungsten bullets blasted into his helmet.

With a growl Victor shoved the fresh corpse off the desk to the ground, clenching his jaw. He turned around, replacing the Locust's thermal clip, and leaned on the desk. Whitwell, now Yin. Everyone who knew about Alesh'Khal was using it to screw around with him. Worse, it always worked.

Victor turned his attention to the computer, then tapped a few keys to link Whitwell's systems to his omni-tool. The yellow-orange holographic gauntlet appeared around his arm in response. A few more keystrokes started a scan of Scipio's databases. Victor didn't know what he wanted out of the information, only that he wanted it. Maybe the locations of other Scipio bases, so he could wipe them out some time. Maybe something about where Yin was headed after he escaped.

Line by line, a list of relevant data appeared in a window hovering just above his omni-tool. Scipio only had four bases: Elysium, Caesar Station, Omega, and a world he never heard of called Pleroma. Nothing on Yin.

Yin was on Alesh'Khal, if Gulati was telling the truth. But why?

_"He believed in outright force, attacks on the scale of Balak's attempt on Terra Nova."_

Victor barely had time to consider the implications when footsteps from behind and from the right caught his attention. He whirled around, Locust at the—

Miranda, Jacob, Garrus, Kasumi, and Tali. He looked towards the second entrance, towards the private elevator: Thane, Mordin, Legion, Grunt, and Jack. All with weapons pointed at him.

"This time," Miranda said, "We're not leaving without you."

Whitwell, the woman holding the leash, was dead. Nothing was keeping from rejoining the crew. But doing so meant explaining everything to them, including what happened seven years ago. Right now, he just wanted to get to Alesh'Khal and, by dealing with Yin and his group, eliminate the last few people who knew. He didn't need the squad to do that.

He backed up into the desk, keeping his gun trained on Miranda while looking from one group to another. "That's not happening. Like I said, this doesn't involve you."

Miranda narrowed her eyes. "You're smart enough to know you can't escape."

Victor's free right hand inched towards the neural shock grenades his belt. If it had to come to this again, he'd do it and deal with the implications of attacking his own squad again. This time, it _was_ for—

No, he told himself with a deep breath. Flawed logic. He left the way he did so he could make up any excuse upon his return. But now the crew knew that he was hiding _something_. And even if he got past them now and eliminated Yin, he would still have to explain it.

After a few more silent moments, he lowered his gun. "Fine. You win."

"This has gone on too long," Garrus said.

Victor dropped his gaze. He responded to Garrus with silence, because he was beginning to see that the turian was right. This wasn't how a leader—or a friend, or Victor, or Commander Shepard—was supposed to act.

Tali nodded. "He's right. And after all this, we deserve an explanation."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Victor took a deep breath. "Let's return to the _Normandy_." The words came out unsteadily, as if he was doing an impression of Commander Shepard rather than _being_ him. "We'll have a full-crew debriefing there, I'll tell you everything."

Kasumi gave him a faint, relieved smile. "Welcome back, Shep."

The squad proceeded through the main door of Whitwell's office. Victor followed, dreading the reunion with the crew, and with Joker.


	13. Chapter 12

**PART THREE: CARTHAGE**

**XII.**

_2178 CE_

Victor switched his hidden shield generators on the moment he stepped off the shuttle. Weisman took the lead, guiding him through Kalarath Station's maze of dull gray corridors crawling with Blue Suns mercs. As he figured, most were batarian. Victor made it a point to still his usually wandering gaze. He didn't want to attract any attention, even from mere passing glances.

The walk lasted for a minute or two, until they arrived at a large docking bay. Attached to the dock arm was a _Kowloon_-class freighter. The _Snake Fang_, Victor presumed.

Weisman checked his omni-tool. "Well, we're here. He's waiting for you inside."

"Honestly, I don't care." That was a half-truth. "I'm here for the ship."

"You'll have to talk to the boss. He did a lotta work to get our hands on this, and he probably won't give it up easily."

"Then let's go."

* * *

_2185 CE_

Victor Shepard set foot on the _Normandy_—for the first time in a while, he realized. The sight of his ship should've been comforting, or at least a welcome change from the comparatively less advanced Scipio frigates and shuttles he had spent the last two weeks on. But with the inevitable debriefing, telling the crew everything about the _Snake Fang_ and Alesh'Khal and Scipio and Yin, being on the _Normandy_ twisted his stomach into even tighter knots.

He glanced back at the squad as the last few stepped onto the deck from the airlock. "I'll call a full-crew meeting in ten minutes. In the meantime, return to your stations."

The squad proceeded down towards the CIC. Victor watched them go, then looked back at the cockpit. The pilot's seat was empty. He shook his head; of course it would be.

"Shepard," EDI said, "Jeff is currently—"

"I know."

He passed by Hadley, Matthews, Kelly, and the rest of the bridge crew without a word, ignoring their questions and only responding to their greetings with faint nods. They would come into the picture later, they'd get their answers later. Right now, the private life took priority. And dealing with it started with the longest one-floor elevator ride of his life.

As the elevator door opened to the entrance of the Captain's cabin, Victor tore off his visor, took a breath, and stepped inside.

"You know, waiting here makes me feel kinda like a goddamn woman."

Joker sat on Victor's chair, hunched over with his elbows on his knees, eyes on some spot on the floor. "Then again, between us, I'm the woman here. I just wait on the ship, maybe pull off a few fancy moves once in a while. You get to go on all kinds of amazing adventures all the time. Like this one."

Victor held his breath as the furrow in Joker's brow grew more and more apparent underneath the shadow of his hat. "So," Joker said, looking up. "What the hell were you doing?"

He nearly flinched at that.

"What were you so bent on hiding from us? From me? Why couldn't you just tell us what was going on?"

"What could you have done?" Victor tried keeping his tone even as he laid out the reasoning he had used for two weeks, though he heard hints of anxiety—anxiety towards Joker's well-deserved outburst, towards the meeting, towards telling everyone everything—creep into his words.

"_Something_, I don't know. But you didn't have to leave us the way you did. Worse? I had to wait here while everyone else ran around looking for you. I couldn't do anything. You know the last time things were like that?" His shoulders dropped as he inhaled and shifted his gaze back to the floor. "When you were dead."

Somehow it always came back to that. To the guilt Joker carried over it. Fighting the knot in his stomach, Victor took a step towards the man on the chair. "Jeff." The mention of his name brought Joker's attention back to him. "I… I guess nothing I can say can really excuse what I've been doing. I can only promise you that I'll tell you everything at the meeting." Another step. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Victor headed down the steps for the armor locker.

* * *

As cohesive as the _Normandy_ crew was, it was rare to see it gathered in one place. At the CIC, bodies pressed tightly together in once spacious and uncluttered walkways. Funny, Victor thought. The last time this happened was just after the Collector base was destroyed, when he congratulated his crew on a job very well done.

Standing on his platform in front of the inactive galaxy map, he glanced aside at Kelly. "All hands are accounted for, Commander."

He nodded, then returned his attention to the rest of the crew. "All right." A small pause as he shifted in his navy fatigues. Where to begin… "As you all know, for the last two weeks I've taken an… unexpected leave. You also know that my absence was due to the terrorist organization called Scipio, who used the information on one of my… prior missions as blackmail. I was contracted to assassinate batarian diplomats on Omega and pin the murders on Omega's crime lords to sour relations between the Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony.

"All of you are undoubtedly curious about this prior mission." A deep breath as he leaned on the railing of his platform. The Commander Shepard façade dropped. "Well, how many of you have heard of Alesh'Khal?"

* * *

_2178 CE_

Empty. From the cold gray corridors to the tiny crew quarters, the _Snake Fang_ was deserted. Not the best sign. Victor brandished his pistol. "Weisman. Where is everyone?"

The Red shrugged. "Hell if I know. Jake told me he wanted to meet you up in the bridge. He's probably there, I sent a message telling him we were coming a while back." He started down another hallway. "We can cut through the cargo hold, it's faster. This place feels like a fucking ghost ship."

The weaponry would probably be there.

A faint humming overtook the silence. Victor checked his omni-tool: the drive core had powered up, and the _Snake Fang_ was in motion. Point of no return, he guessed.

At the end of the corridor, Weisman tapped an entrance console. The door opened to a massive cargo bay, larger than what was standard on _Kowloon_-class freighters. Running down the length of each side were two white, spear-shaped objects. The prototypes.

Victor's trained senses caught faint rustling and footsteps from behind one of the torpedoes. Maybe Weisman had led him into a trap after all. He glanced between his escort and the source of the noises, taking slow, deliberate steps.

"Hurry up," Weisman said. "I thought you wanted to see your old fuck buddy."

"I don't."

A large, darkened figure sprung from the shadows, pointing a rifle at Victor. It stepped forward. The darkness withdrew from its face. The man returned Victor's stare with a wary glare, before recognition settled into his eyes as well.

"Well." The man lowered his weapon. "Look what we have here."

"I thought you were dead."

"And I thought I told you to never make assumptions."

The Old Man, older, more scarred, set the rifle aside on one of the many crates. "Heh. I never thought that little Victor would've grown up and become a big, badass Alliance war hero. 'Magine my surprise when I saw the reports all over the 'net. Of course…" He started pacing around; Victor's gaze followed him closely. "I'm also surprised to see you busting this small operation. The hell did you find us?"

"I brought 'em here."

The same voice, just a little deeper than he remembered. Victor looked to the door on the opposite side of the cargo hall, trying to suppress that sickening chill in his chest. Jake O'Connor, taller, bigger, with a hint of dirty blonde stubble on his face, approached the three. He offered Victor a wry grin. The same one from his memories. "Hey."

Victor only returned silence.

O'Connor's smile faltered, then the man looked over at Weisman with a scowl. "The hell were you thinking. I told you that I didn't want anyone knowing about this."

"Sorry," Weisman said, "I—"

"Just get out of here. Off the ship. Take an escape pod back to Kalarath, the others are there."

"R-right."

The Old Man watched Weisman leave the way they came in. "Now what's this about not letting me know about our old friend here?"

"I just…" O'Connor shrugged. "Wanted to see him again."

He actually did, then? Bullshit, it had to be. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Victor said, hoping that his tone masked any of the unease at O'Connor's presence. "Besides, it's over. It ended when you kicked me out of the Reds. I'm just here for the ship."

"Right, right." The Old Man folded his arms. "You're Alliance now. Other end of the spectrum from our gang."

Victor raised his pistol, training its muzzle at the Old Man's head. "Exactly. So I'll give you one chance to hand the _Snake Fang_ and the weapons over. Just one."

"Not happening. You see, we're not done with this ship yet. And when we're done, we won't be able to give it back." The Old Man smiled. "Alesh'Khal? We're going to be smashing this ship right into it. Disruptor torpedoes and all. Revenge for all the colonies we lost to the four-eyed freaks. Revenge for Elysium."

His first reaction was "he's lying." Six-point-one million lived on the planet. The detonation of the freighter's drive core, plus the two prototypes…

No. The Old Man didn't lie.

Victor knew the Old Man was ambitious. And he supposed wiping out a good fraction of that 6.1 million was the extent of it. "Not gonna hap—"

His pistol exploded with sparks. The Old Man had his omni-tool pointed at it. "Jake," he said. "Arm the weapons, bring down the colony's defense grid."

"Got it." O'Connor approached a console next to one of torpedoes and got to work.

The Old Man stepped back, right next to O'Connor. "This is how it's going to work. Your gun has one shot before it overheats. By the time it cools down, the ship's course is set. So you have a choice. Shoot Jake and end this, or shoot me. Neither of us have shields, so one shot is all it'll take."

"And even if I shoot him, what's to stop you from taking over?"

"Why the hell did I teach you two basic omni-tool tricks in the first place?"

Victor gritted his teeth. Kill O'Connor and stop the attack. Kill the Old Man and save O'Connor. Try to rush them both—no. Victor was good at hand-to-hand, but the Old Man, from past experience, had superior strength and skill. Walk away and spare them both? Not going to happen. He tried bringing up his omni-tool; nothing appeared. That tech attack probably hit it, too.

Kill O'Connor and stop the attack. The only real solution.

Victor aimed his sabotaged gun.

_Victor, sixteen, pressed himself up against the walls of the alley. Blood seeped through the bleeding wound in his gut and mixed with rainwater. His breathing came raggedly, his vision swam, and his screaming had been reduced to nothing._

_Something lifted his limp body off the rain-soaked ground. "You think I'd leave you?" was the last thing he heard before blackness consumed his world._

Lights along the torpedoes started up, one by one.

That was nine years ago. Nine. A long enough time to get over it.

_"Dammit, don't get shot again."_

_Victor, bandaged up and lying on a dirty cot in the hideout, didn't expect Jake to grab his head and press his lips against his. And he didn't expect to like it. To want it._

That was over. It ended when Jake—no, O'Connor—screamed for him to "get the fuck out" of the Reds alley.

The drive core's humming grew louder. He was running out of time.

Logic, dammit. Kill O'Connor and stop the attack.

_"Shut up," Victor said, his words coming in hoarse whispers as their bodies pressed up against the wall of a dark, abandoned house. "You want this, right?"_

_Jake nodded. "I fucking love you."_

_"Yeah." Hands ran over skin, explored every crack and crevice of the other's body. Victor smirked. "Fucking love you, too." Then they kissed again._

He took a breath through clenched teeth. His index trembled on the trigger.

_"I fucking love you."_

He took the shot.

The Old Man collapsed.

Victor lowered his arm, the beeping pistol slipping from his fingers and hitting the metal floor. His utter dread seemed to magnify the clattering a hundred times over.

O'Connor took his hands off the console. "It's done." His blue-gray gaze swept around, first at the Old Man's corpse, then towards Victor. "I… guess I should thank you."

He just condemned countless people to die, and he was _thanking_ him.

"Victor?" O'Connor took a step towards him. "Last time we said goodbye wasn't really all smiles, and…"

He just condemned countless people to die, all because…

"Don't talk to me."

O'Connor dropped his gaze. "Yeah. Yeah, all right. Guess it was too much to hope…" He sighed. "Let's just get to the escape pods before this ship hits atmosphere." Victor let him walk past him. "Victor?"

Although part of him wanted to stay and die in the mess he made—no, the disaster he let happen, his legs, almost of their own volition, forced him to turn around and follow.

* * *

_2185 CE_

"I watched the ship descend into atmosphere. The explosion was just a tiny dot from the escape shuttle's window. Turns out, it hit the most populated sector of the capital city. Seventy-two thousand, five hundred and eighty-four died." Joker watched Victor's gaze sink even lower. "And I let it happen."

Now Joker felt like a total ass for blowing up at him. Going from saving a colony to that… he couldn't begin to imagine how that felt. For a moment, he flashed back to just after Asteroid X57. Victor looked so disturbed after that… another bunch of terrorists threatening to do the same thing the Reds tried must've hit pretty close to home.

He mustered the willpower to tear his gaze away from Victor and look around at the rest of the crew. A bunch of the Cerberus crew seemed just as shaken as Victor. He couldn't blame them; the idea of their hero, Commander Shepard _failing_—he hated associating that word with the man—was damn hard to grasp, especially for him.

"You…" A voice called out from the crowd. "Are full of shit."

Gasps and murmurs arose from the crew as Jack shoved her way to the front of the crowd.


	14. Chapter 13

**XIII.**

"You are full of shit."

Jack shoved her way to the front of the crowd with obvious disgust on her face. "You spew all that bullshit to everyone about letting go of the past. Samara with her kid. Garrus with his revenge. The cheerleader with her daddy issues. _Me._ You just _love_ playing counselor. But look at you, running and hiding because of your fuck-up."

"Shepard's made questionable decisions in the past few days," Miranda said, "but you will not—"

She shot the XO a glare. "Shut up!"

Joker looked back to Victor. He couldn't believe it: the man just stood there, letting Jack rip into him like that. Why was he just taking all that?

"Bullshit. All of it. I bet if your ex walked in through the airlock, you'd run right back to him. Forget Joker, right? He's just your cum rag to hold you over until you bump into the other guy."

Something in Joker snapped. "Hey, you shut up—"

"You know damn well I'm right."

"What do you—"

"Joker." Victor glared at him with a quiet, tired intensity in his eyes.

He cast an incredulous stare at the man. What _did_ she know? First she bitched Victor out in front of the entire crew, then she started attacking their relationship and in doing so crossed a whole other line. "Are you listening to her? You're just going to let her say—"

_"Joker."_

He opened his mouth, but instead averted his gaze to the floor.

The sound of footsteps and more shoving. "Should've known that all your counseling was just bullshit." Jack had lowered her voice, now sounding more bitter than angry.

Miranda turned around towards the elevator. "Jack."

"Fuck off."

"Let her go," Victor said.

Joker heard sliding metal—the elevator opening and closing. A long silence took over the CIC afterwards. He looked upwards at the rest of the crew. From the looks on the others' faces—faces that he could see, at least—he couldn't tell if they were more stunned at Victor's story or at Jack's angry tirade.

"Well." Victor pushed himself off the railing of his platform. "There you have it." His eyes flicked downward for a moment and he took a breath. "Crew dismissed."

Joker watched the crew leave the CIC, their footsteps seeming slower, more deliberate than usual. Meanwhile, Victor stood still.

* * *

This time, Joker entered the Captain's cabin to find Victor hunched over on his hair, elbows on the desk, eyes on his private terminal. Or at least, if he knew Victor, eyes pretending to look at his private terminal.

"Jack was right, you know. I couldn't let go of the past on the _Snake Fang_, and I guess I couldn't let go of it when that message came." Victor didn't turn around. "I probably could've found another way to stop the ship from hitting the colony. But I used to worship the Old Man, back on Earth. That, combined with how I let O'Connor live… how I still cared about him…" His shoulders rose and fell as the man sat back in the chair. "I really hadn't changed too much from the kid in the Tenth Street Reds."

Joker remained silent, hating how Victor, after taking a verbal beating from Jack, was now giving one to himself. Hating how he himself couldn't come up with anything to say. Shit, Victor always managed something when Joker spilled his angst—on Alchera, in this very cabin, then why couldn't he do the same?

"And maybe I haven't changed at all from the soldier on the _Snake Fang_, too."

An idea clicked. "Well, all those people died, but… how many people did you save on Elysium? Terra Nova? The Citadel? Horizon? Hell, all those colonies that the Collectors would've hit sooner or later if you didn't blow them up?"

"It's not that people died. It's that I _let it happen_. Because some stupid part of me thought that O'Connor and I still could've had something together, even if what we did have died years ago." Victor sighed. "Maybe Jack's right about that, too, if O'Connor ever shows up again… I don't know how I'd react." Finally, he turned his seat around. "Does that change anything?" A small pause before he lowered his voice. "No, that's a stupid question. Of course it does."

Maybe, as much as Joker didn't want to admit it. He still felt that Victor could've told him—the crew—everything before or instead of running off in the middle of the night. And part of him wondered if the man was keeping anything else important tucked away. Joker shook his head. "I've been pining for you for way too long for it to just end now."

He didn't realize how dickish that sounded until Victor looked even more hurt.

Shit. Just when he thought he was onto something, Joker had to go screw it up. "Uh, that's not what I meant, I—"

A beep as EDI's avatar appeared off to the side. "Shepard, Officer Vakarian and Miss Zorah are waiting outside. They would like to speak with you."

Saved from digging himself into a hole. Joker inched towards the door. "Guess I should leave you alone, then."

Victor nodded. "Thanks. EDI, let them in."

* * *

Joker hobbled past Tali as she and Garrus stepped through the door. She had to admit that she found the prospect of inviting themselves into Shepard's cabin a little unnerving. Out of the whole crew, only Kelly and Joker had spent time there.

Tali first noted the terrarium on the left-hand wall casting a faint white light all over the room. Inside dwelled several small, four-legged creatures that reminded her of varren—no. She wasn't here to sightsee Shepard's quarters.

She turned her attention back to Garrus and Shepard. The latter stood up from the chair next to a desk. "You wanted to talk?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "About everything that's happened."

Garrus started pacing around. "I'm guessing that Joker already asked you this, but I need answers for myself." Tali's gaze followed the turian into the small nook between the bathroom door and the desk. A small glass frame drew her attention: a holo of Shepard and Joker lay at the center. "We've been through a lot together. We fought together against the geth; the Thorian on Feros; rachni, asari commandos, and Liara's mother on Noveria; Saren; Sovereign; the Collectors."

Tali looked back at Shepard. The man had leaned back on his desk, arms folded.

"When I was out to kill Sidonis, you stuck with me the whole time, even if you disagreed with my intentions. You even convinced me to spare him. And when Tali was on trial…" She tensed at that. "… you cleared her name with just words. You didn't use the evidence, even though that would've saved Tali guaranteed, because she asked you to." Garrus stopped his pacing and turned to face Shepard. "We trusted each other with our lives back then. We still do. So why didn't you trust us with this?"

Shepard inhaled. "Maybe I should've. But at the time I thought, 'do I want to let everyone know about my biggest failure?'"

"You helped me protect my father's reputation. We would've helped you protect yours," Tali said. "We—_I_ would've understood."

"I don't think Jack would've."

Garrus took a step towards Tali. "She's Jack." He took a small breath. "That's the other thing I wanted to talk about. You remember our talk on the Citadel? After you convinced me to let Sidonis go?"

"What about it?"

"You told me that I was letting my personal feelings cloud my judgment. Well."

Shepard paused, as if considering Garrus' words. "And you told me that I don't practice what I preach." Another small pause. "I guess you were—_are_—right."

"I told you. I'm not a very good turian. If I was, this whole thing wouldn't matter, I wouldn't question anything, it would be business as usual. But it isn't. Telling us the story from the beginning might've cost you some of the crew's respect, but this? Leaving without a word, attacking and threatening us?"

"I'm a hypocrite."

Garrus' mandibles twitched, maybe taken aback by Shepard's bluntness.

Jack's outburst, Garrus' criticism, whatever happened with Joker… plus his own self-deprecation. Tali's mouth started running faster than her head. "Don't you think you've had enough of this?"

Human and turian laid eyes on her.

"This doesn't change anything. It shouldn't. Yes, you made a mistake. Yes, mistakes should be learned from. But I don't think we should become what the Alliance became for you: endless critics because of one bad decision, deserved or not. Some of the crew has turned their backs on you, even though you saved their lives. Rolston, Conroy, McNeal… But I'm with you until the end."

Shepard and Garrus remained silent. Tali feared that she had only stated the obvious or went on some crazed rant.

Garrus dropped his gaze. "Right. Right. It's… hard to remember that with all that's happened and all these things I've wanted to say since. But yes. Until the end."

More silence.

"We should go," Tali said. "If you need us…"

Shepard nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for coming up."

Tali flicked a glance right as Garrus turned to leave. Her gaze lingered on Shepard for a few more moments before she joined him.

* * *

"Hey."

Joker jumped in his chair, then tapped the controls to turn it around. For once, he was damn glad to have Victor sneak up on him again. "Hey. How'd it go with Tali and Garrus?"

Victor stepped up to one of the panels next to the pilot's chair and leaned back on it. "Well enough. They gave me a few things to think about. About the crew, about the team. About me." He cracked a small, maybe a little forced, but just a little, smile. "Nice reversal from the usual routine of me doing some of Kelly's job."

"Mind if I give you something else to think about?" Victor's more-or-less normal attitude—not beating himself up in his cabin—made Joker mirror the man's smile with a wider one of his own.

Victor quirked an eyebrow.

Joker took a deep breath. A really deep one. "Okay, this is about the mushiest thing you'll ever hear me say—well, other than 'I love you,' I guess—but just bear with me. I spent a good five minutes thinking it up."

"Just say it."

"Aye-aye. All right." Another deep breath. "You know, that O'Connor guy was an idiot to dump you. At the same time, I'm kinda glad he did." Yep, very cheesy. Maybe if he added… "Well, it's not every day that a cripple lands in Commander Shepard's bed."

Victor blinked, silent, then pushed himself off the panel. "Damn. I would never have expected that from you." He folded his arms. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" His voice lowered. "Given, well, all the verbal beatings you just took."

A shrug from Victor. "I'm fine, really." Then a pause. "It's not going to help anything if I just sulk in my cabin and wallow in misery. That's not how things work. I'm moving forward now. At least I'm trying to."

Joker allowed himself a small sigh of relief. Much better. "So," he said, "what happens next?"

"Simple. Yin goes down."

"And this time, you're not going to disappear in the middle of the night again?"

Though he phrased it as a joke, it was a genuine question. Victor, turning his head towards the forward viewports, seemed to pick right up on that. "No, I'm not. If the rest of the crew will help."

"This again?" Joker remembered when the old _Normandy_ was grounded and Anderson helped them escape the Citadel. "Everyone on this ship is behind you. Hundred percent."

Victor smiled, hopefully acknowledging that little throwback to old times. "Maybe, but I'd still like to use the intercom. I have a few words for the crew."

* * *

Shepard had let an old mistake control him. Shepard had let those who were weaker than him control him with that mistake. Battlemasters do not let others control them.

Shepard had let Jack talk to him like a subordinate. Shepard had let Jack diminish his status as leader before the rest of his crew. Battlemasters do not show weakness.

Shepard's position as battlemaster had taken over Grunt's thoughts as the krogan paced back and forth on the engineering deck. Grunt flashed back to their first meeting, when Grunt, just out of the tank, had Shepard pinned to the wall, the smallest application of force away from snapping something vital. Shepard had displayed strength back then. And he had displayed strength countless times afterwards. But this… _weakness_… it put everything Grunt had thought about Shepard into question.

_"This is Commander Shepard."_

Grunt's gaze flicked up at the ceiling at the sound of the human's voice.

_"After everything that's happened, I'm not entirely sure I should be asking anything of you. I abandoned you because, honestly, I felt like I had to protect a reputation."_

The krogan ground his teeth; this would be interesting.

* * *

_"But it seems like doing so ended up damaging the integrity of this ship and its crew a lot more."_

Jack pressed the side of her head into her pillow even more, scowling at Shepard's stupid attempt at asking forgiveness or whatever he was going for. Even in the deepest parts of his damn ship, the intercom boomed at full volume.

_"So this time, I'm not ordering anyone to do anything. In fact, I'll go at this alone if nobody wants to help me clean up my mess—and nobody should feel obligated to."_

Would he _shut up_? He was too transparent. He would put on the whole leader act and try winning over the crew with a few nice words, but in the end, he was still the same Shepard. A scared little hypocrite, all talk and no walk, playing the big problem solver but running into a corner and crying and hiding when faced with his own problems.

Jack turned on her cot. Nothing he could say would change who he was on the inside.

* * *

_"But I'd like your help. Samuel Yin's planning something on Alesh'Khal, the same colony I couldn't—no, didn't save seven years ago."_

Thane understood wanting atonement all too well.

Atonement had defined the assassin's life for the past several years. Atonement for the lives he had taken, atonement for failing Irikah… atonement for failing Kolyat. When he received word that Kolyat had taken up a hitman's job on the Citadel, he found an opportunity to take one step closer to that goal. He had asked Shepard for his help. Now, the positions were reversed.

_"I didn't stop the Old Man from killing all those colonists back then. But I can stop Yin from killing even more. And given my track record, I don't think going solo would be best."_

Shepard sought to make up for his mistake, as Thane did. Who was he, Thane thought, hunched over his desk, to refuse the man aid?

* * *

"This," Jacob said, leaning back on a wall in the mess hall, "is more like it. This is the Shepard we know."

Miranda gave him a brief nod. She had to agree. It came as a great comfort, hearing Shepard being the commander she spent two years rebuilding, rather than the frustrated, unwilling assassin she had encountered in the Yin Estate or the man caught up in his past in the CIC just a few hours ago. She had her doubts, of course, but the whole announcement was a hopeful sign.

_"This is where you come in. We stopped the Collectors from attacking human colonies. We stopped a hybrid VI from spreading throughout the galaxy. But helping me take down Yin would be the biggest favor you could do for me."_

A favor? The notion slightly amused her. Shepard had dragged the crew into this business through his disappearance. She saw no reason why he didn't expect them to see it through to the end—if only out of spite for his earlier self-defeating attitude.

_"I'll be waiting for anyone willing to help in the debriefing room. Shepard, out."_

Jacob pushed himself off the wall. Miranda started off towards the elevator. "Shall we?"

She heard chuckling and footsteps from behind. "Damn, you've changed."

"What Shepard doesn't realize…" Miranda stepped inside the elevator and hit the button on the console for the CIC. "Is that he's not the only one with unfinished business with Samuel Yin. Remember the wild goose chase he led us on?"

Jacob quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe not."

She had to flash him a small smirk at that.


	15. Chapter 14

**XIV.**

"Kalarath Command, this is PS-14A."

A buzz of static as the patrol ship's comm systems came to life. _"Kalarath Command."_

"We…" The batarian officer gulped. "We're clearing a turian merchant transport from Taetrus. E-everything checked out in the inspection, I'm uploading the report right… right now." A sheen of sweat—or what looked like batarian sweat—covered the officer's head as the batarian punched commands into the haptic interface.

The four-eye had every right to sweat. Becher had a gun to his head and had already broken a few bones. Too bad; the batarian was so serious about his job before she ambushed him aboard the old derelict freighter trap and killed his partner.

And once the officer switched off the comm, she pulled the trigger on him, too.

Becher nudged the fresh corpse onto the floor of the cockpit and took its seat at the helm, then brought up her omni-tool. "Becher to Mister Yin. The payload's on its way planetside, no incident."

_"Good. I've just received word that we've taken Tower Two. Finish your next task then report there immediately."_

* * *

Miranda's gaze flicked around the debriefing room as the XO made a mental list of those present. Jacob, Kasumi, Mordin, and Legion on one side of the table. Garrus, Tali, Grunt, and Thane on the right. Joker would've been present as well, if he wasn't piloting the _Normandy_ towards Alesh'Khal. As for Jack, nothing Shepard could've said would've reached her; she had made up her mind probably even before she knew the story.

Finally, Shepard stood at the head, with Miranda at his right. "Thanks for coming," he said. "I wouldn't be able to do this without you all."

"Is this the part where we take turns saying how much we respect you and how we'll follow you to the death?" Kasumi asked, a faint smile drawing upon her painted lips. "I've always liked those scenes in the vids."

Shepard returned her grin. "Maybe. But I'd prefer to figure out how we're going to stop Yin. One of his men told me that he was on Alesh'Khal just before you showed up at the Scipio base. Knowing him, he's probably planning an attack."

Miranda nodded. "Before we followed you to Elysium, we scanned Yin's databases and communications. He's planning to use the bombs we stole from the Blue Suns to level something called 'The Memorial of Burning Rain.'"

"The Memorial of Burning Rain…" Shepard looked down the middle of the table. "EDI, can you tell us anything about that?"

Not a moment passed before EDI's avatar appeared. "A joint effort by the Batarian Hegemony and the Terminus Systems, the Memorial of Burning Rain—the name is a loose translation from its original language—was built two years after the _Snake Fang_ incident to memorialize the lives lost in the attack. It consists of two towers. The first, Tower One, is located at the _Snake Fang_'s point of impact on Alesh'Khal, at the center of the capital Thashaar. The second, Tower Two, is located on the planet's largest moon, Ruthakh, positioned so that once during Ruthakh's orbital period, the towers become closely aligned."

Shepard took a step back from the table. "Yin's going to bring down the planetside tower, maximize casualties from the explosion."

"We might be able to confirm that," Miranda said. "We placed tracking devices with each of the explosives before we gave them to Yin. EDI, where are the bombs now?"

"One moment." The wire frame hologram of one of the cylindrical bombs appeared in front of EDI. An image of a planet joined it seconds later, and the explosive shrank until it was a red dot on the planet's surface. "Location acquired. All three explosives are approaching Thashaar. They are most likely aboard one of Yin's transports."

"So they haven't been planted yet. Any estimates of the casualties if the bombs go off?" Shepard asked.

"Approximately one-hundred fifty thousand."

Shepard responded first with a frown and a furrowed brow. "Dammit. More than twice the casualties from the _Snake Fang_. We're not letting Yin blow them up. Any idea where we'll find him?"

"Judging from his communications, Tower Two," Miranda said.

Jacob leaned on the table, gazing at Alesh'Khal's hologram. "Bet he wants a nice view from orbit while he butchers everyone below."

"The bombs are in Tower One, Yin's in Tower Two." Shepard crossed his arms and lowered his gaze to the floor. "Let's start with the big picture. EDI, we need info on Alesh'Khal itself. Especially on how it's changed since I was last there."

After a moment, a rust-colored texture enveloped the hologram sphere. Another sphere representing Ruthakh joined it, and eight small dots appeared in the planet's orbit. "Alesh'Khal's security has increased dramatically in the past several years," EDI said. "Along with increased patrols within a several hundred-kilometer radius beyond Ruthakh's orbit, the Batarian Hegemony has established seven new orbital defense platforms. Kalarath Station was upgraded and upsized in order to serve as the center of the satellite network."

"Why so much for a single fringe colony?" Tali asked.

"It's not just a fringe colony," Shepard said. "It's a contested border world. I'm thinking all the patrols and the space stations were meant to give the batarians a bigger presence there."

Several small data windows appeared hovering over the planet surface as EDI continued. "Alesh'Khal's high levels of valuable mineral deposits are the reason why the Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony clash so strongly over it."

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "And why the Reds attacked it." A pause before he continued on. "You think all that security would keep another terrorist away."

"Knowing him," Kasumi said, "they probably have quite a few Yin-sized holes in their fancy fence."

Jacob nodded. "If the bombs haven't been planted yet, then we _could_ contact the colony, see if they can stop the bombs from reaching the tower. But then we'd just be handing nukes over from one bad guy to the next. Who's to say the Terminus mercs wouldn't use them?"

"Mmm." Garrus' brow plate shifted. "We stole the bombs from the Suns in the first place."

"Exactly. Which is why we'll need to send a team disarm the bombs." Shepard scanned the room for a second. "Kasumi, Tali, Legion. You're the bomb squad. The rest of you will be with me in Tower Two. EDI, bring up the tower's schematics. Mark all the possible entrances."

EDI complied, and Shepard got to work on analyzing the tower's layout and developing the attack plan. Miranda noted a certain intensity in the man's focus that she only saw once before: the debriefing before the attack on the Collector base. In a sense, stopping Yin was equally important to him.

* * *

The Kodiak shuttle landed before the Memorial Burning Rain's Tower Two, a spiraling silver structure whose massive shadow dug into Ruthakh's barren gray surface like a fang. A fang, Victor noted grimly. Definitely not his favorite image. And just above the tower lay rust-colored Alesh'Khal, along with all the meaning the planet's name held for him.

_"The tracking devices detect that the nuclear explosives have been armed,"_ EDI said._ "Estimated time to detonation, one hour, forty-five minutes."_

Kasumi nodded. "We have our work cut out for us, then."

"Good luck." Victor unclipped his pistol and joined the moonside team in front of the tower's unguarded main entrance. Behind him, the shuttle lifted off for the _Normandy_. "All right," he said to the remaining six of his squad. "If EDI's jamming worked, then Yin doesn't know we're here yet. We all know the plan. Let's do this."

So the team split up: Miranda and Jacob in one group, Mordin and Thane in another, Grunt marched towards the main entrance, and Garrus headed off for his own position. Meanwhile, Victor made his way to one of the side entrances. He tapped the side of his helmet. "EDI, can you get a fix on Yin's position?"

_"Yin is on the observatory level at the top of the tower."_

Figures, Victor thought. He would've wanted the nicest view.

Red symbols flashed on his helmet's HUD; hostiles around the corner. Victor switched his tactical cloak on and moved in, sidearm at the ready. Two YSS troops emerged from Victor's chosen entrance and tossed two barely recognizable batarian corpses out into empty space. Without hardsuits to compensate for Ruthakh's minimal gravity, the mangled bodies simply drifted. The troops chattered among themselves, seemingly amused by vacuum's effects on their kills.

Victor came in arm's reach of the nearest troop. A press of a button on his arm, and a yellow-orange switchblade sprung out of his omni-tool to impale the merc from behind. The blade was still lodged inside the man's back when Victor aimed and fired his Phalanx before the other knew what was going on.

Both bodies hit the dirt simultaneously, before the cloak had dropped.

He looked back to the entrance. The troops had left the door unlocked; less work for him. Each of his squad soon radioed in. Everyone was in position.

Finally, Victor Shepard gave the signal.

* * *

Tali watched Thashaar draw closer and closer from her omni-tool. The city seemed like a ring of browns, grays, and whites amidst a wasteland of red-orange cliffs and mountains. At the center of the ring stood the massive first tower of the Memorial of Burning Rain, a spiraling silver needle.

She looked up at her two companions and enlarged the window with the visual feed. "It's even larger than the other tower."

"The batarians certainly have more artistic sense than we give them credit for," Kasumi said. The thief leaned forward in her chair. "I wonder how much I could get by selling some batarian art. I don't think I've ever gotten my hands on any."

Legion's eyepiece spiraled into focus. "Fifty percent of the building materials used in the construction of the Memorial of Burning Rain, Tower One consists of debris left over from the _Snake Fang_ incident."

"Fifty percent?" Kasumi looked back at the image of the tower. "Must've been plenty of wreckage."

"Warning," Legion said, "Tower One is claimed territory of the Batarian Hegemony. Access to Tower premises is permitted only to Hegemony citizens and guests authorized by Hegemony government officials."

Tali closed the feed and glanced out the window; the shuttle had just dipped below the tip of Tower One. "How did Yin plant the bombs if humans aren't allowed in the tower?"

"The only way he knows how," Kasumi said. "We all saw what he did to Scipio on Elysium."

The shuttle dipped again, this time below Thashaar's skyline. In the distance stood skycraper after skycraper—nothing like Illium or Bekenstein, but that section of the city gave off an impression of at least moderate wealth. Here, around the landing zone, was a different story. None of the dilapidated building stood more than a dozen floors tall. Some even showed evidence of abandoned construction on their roofs, like the batarians had given up. Not hard to see why. The environmental damage from the _Snake Fang_ attack probably rendered the immediate vicinity of the point of impact nearly uninhabitable, not without long-term health hazards. Still, Tali found it ironic how the Hegemony poured billions of credits into the Memorial yet nothing into rehabilitating the impact zone.

Tali stepped out the shuttle door into Thashaar's slums and looked around. Several batarians and a few members of other races had their eyes on her—a Cerberus-marked military shuttle was probably a rare sight around here. And, despite the risks, some still called this area of the city home, she supposed.

She turned around. "We should split up. A quarian, a human, and a geth traveling together would draw too much attention. Even here."

"Shouldn't be too hard for me." A brief flash of electricity, then Kasumi disappeared.

Legion's "brow" plate shifted and whirred. "Acknowledged. The Memorial of Burning Rain will be our meeting point. We suggest dismantling one device per unit."

"Detonation of the nuclear devices in one hour, eighteen minutes. We recommend haste."

"Then let's go," Tali said.

Despite failed mugging attempts by various individuals, Tali's rush to the Memorial took less time than she expected. She had EDI to thank for transmitting a map of the city to her. A single step took her from rusted, dirt-covered roads, almost claustrophobic alleys, and Thashaar's less fortunate to polished steel beneath her and an almost unobstructed view of Alesh'Khal's sky above her. Almost unobstructed, save for the Memorial of Burning Rain towering above her.

A helmeted batarian in brown armor stopped her approach to the main entrance. At that point, she envied Legion and Kasumi's ability to get through places undetected. "Hegemony citizens only in Tower One. That doesn't include you."

"You need to let me through." No use arguing without proof, so Tali brought up her omni-tool. And if Yin had bought off the tower's guards, this would force the batarian's hand. She was ready to take on a single guard. "Someone's planning to destroy the Tower with nukes. I have evidence right here."

The guard folded his arms. "What the hell are you getting at? This some kind of joke?"

"It's not, believe me. I wish it was."

Yin's voice came out of the omni-tool. _"I'll mark the positions where you need to plant each of the bombs. We have just enough of the batarians bribed to make it easy for you to do it without getting noticed. Understood?"_

_"Yes sir,"_ came the YSS troop's reply.

_"Good. Yin out."_

"That's Samuel Yin," Tali said. "He's a human terrorist, and he has nukes inside that tower that will explode within the hour. You can see that this recording wasn't modified in any way. I'm not lying to you."

The guard's four eyes narrowed from behind his visor. "And you know where these nukes of yours are?"

"I do." A holographic floor plan of Tower One appeared above her arm. Three dots marked the location of the tracking devices. "I can disarm them, but we need to hurry."

"Fine." He turned around and started off for the tower. Tali followed at a close distance. "But if it turns out you've sent me on a nathak hunt, then you're getting a face full of bullets, quarian. And if that doesn't kill you, then breathing through your smashed mask will." She had no intention of doing that, after what Yin did to them when they were searching for Shepard. "Lushrok to Tower One, we have a bit of a situation." A pause. "Tower One? This is…"

Tali reached for her shotgun as realization set in. Lushrok opened the main door to a slaughter. All over the entrance lobby, batarian troops fired on overwhelming numbers of mechs and drones—models Tali didn't recognize.

"What the…" Lushrok grabbed his assault rifle. "Those are our mechs."

Chiktikka popped into existence with another button press. "Yin. Keelah, he's taken control of your mechs. We can't waste too much time fighting them, we need to get to the nukes, and fast." She checked the floor plan and darted off towards a corridor, blasting a humanoid mech as she passed it. "This way."

_"Kasumi here."_ The thief's voice, nearly drowned out by the explosion of a rocket, came as a relief. _"I'm guessing you're having mech problems, too?"_

"'Problem' would be an understatement."

_"We are attempting to access the central security network," _Legion said. To Tali's surprise, she was relieved to hear the geth over the comm channel as well. _"We will then attempt to reverse the enemy sabotage of the mech control systems."_

She should've expected this, Tali thought. Of course the bosh'tet Yin had found some way of making it difficult. She only hoped there were no other surprises in store.


	16. Chapter 15

**XV.**

Victor shoved aside a YSS troop's rifle and slammed his fist into the man's face. The omni-tool blade pierced glass and ceramics, then flesh and bone. Another flurry of bullets rushed towards him; Victor let the dead troop's still-functioning shields absorb the hits for him as he ducked into cover. Two of Yin's men, three batarian mechs, and a LOKI.

One omni-tool program, and the LOKI mech exploded. Shields down. Victor rolled out of cover, omni-tool pointed at the dazed troops and the now-battered mechs. Another omni-tool program. The enemy had their guns aimed, but no bullets. Five pulls of the Vindicator's trigger, and the last enemies in the corridor were down.

Victor took a breath. Tower Two was a much a memorial as a full-blown fortress. A fortress in which Yin had quickly entrenched himself and his men; they had probably planned this far in advance. The plan was for his squad to draw fire towards them while Victor snuck in and took Yin on his own. Grunt spearheaded, with Jacob and Miranda and Thane and Mordin joining in shortly after. Garrus took to the catwalks of the base level and provide sniper coverage. As Victor expected, Yin shut down the tower's elevators and diverted a good number of troops towards him.

But the problem wasn't the troops nor the LOKIs. The troops were few and short on skill—compared to the squad, at least. The LOKI and FENRIS mechs were easily hacked. But the damn batarian mechs operated on too different and unfamiliar programming. Victor's tricks didn't work as well on them. That raised the question of how _Yin_ was able to control them.

He gave the corridor another sweep. His combat visor marked no hostiles. Victor brought up the layout of the second level and followed it to the stairwell. Through a door lay a skyscraper's worth of spiraling steps.

As he took the first one, he pressed two fingers to the base of his visor. "Shepard to all teams, status report."

_"Miranda here. We're facing stiff defenses. We've made some progress in handling the tower's auto-turrets, but it will be some time before we can catch up to you."_

Victor was suddenly glad that Yin wasn't as thorough as Whitwell; a comm jam would've made the assault much more difficult. Tali came next. _"Yin's taken control of Tower One's automated defenses. The batarians are doing what they can, but they're up against overwhelming numbers. Legion's trying to undo the hacking. I don't know how long it'll take. Not too far away from one of the bombs."_

Victor nodded. The situation on Alesh'Khal's surface wasn't one he wanted to hear, but those three had been up against worse. "Help the batarians where you can, but keep the bombs your top priority. Radio me when you've disarmed them."

_"Understood. Tali'Zorah out."_

"Garrus, start your sweep of the upper levels. I've cleared the second floor and I'm on my way towards Yin at the top, but there might be more hostiles in between."

_"I'm on my way."_

"It's gone well so far, let's keep it up. Shepard out."

The long run up to the top went surprisingly quietly, other than the occasional mech every few floors or so, which only took a second to dispatch. Victor wouldn't have been surprised if Yin _wanted_ him up at the observation deck to see him destroy the other tower. The man put a little too much faith in his borrowed troops. Finally, he stepped through one more door to an artificial park—the "Observatory Foyer," part of the tourist attraction component of the multipurpose memorial. The staircase at the center would take him to the actual observatory. And Yin.

One step into the foyer, and a trash bin, enveloped in a violet aura, flew at him. He stepped to the side, letting it slam into the door. His pistol's targeting laser flew up at a brown-haired woman in white YSS armor with a handgun in her right. A visor not unlike Victor's own stretched across her eyes.

"Hey, Shepard." The woman stepped away from the elevator, while the door to the observation deck slammed shut. "I'm sorry I'm late. The name's Becher. Mister Yin's orders say that you can't lay a foot on those stairs."

* * *

Tower One shook with the explosion of rockets, mechs, and gunfire.

Chiktikka maneuvered around the next corner as Tali nursed a small tear in her suit. Lushrok headed in after the drone and opened fire. The idea of calling a batarian—a particularly abrasive batarian—an ally still seemed strange to her, but she had to admit that without him and his extra firepower, she would be halfway to where she was now.

She finished disinfecting the wound and sealing up the breach, then moved towards the corner. Chiktikka zoomed towards a mech at breakneck speeds and blasted it with a bolt of orange lightning. The mech's joints sparked and twitched. An easy enough shot from Tali's pistol.

"How much farther to your bomb?" Lushrok asked, spraying rapid fire.

"It should be in the room at the end of this hallway."

_"Kasumi here. Disarmed my nuke, how's it on your ends?"_

Whirring from behind her. Tali spun around. More mechs from the door. "Keelah." They had them in a bad spot. "Can you get to our position? The mechs are flanking us."

_"Gotcha. Be right there."_

_"Making steady progress towards the objective,"_ Legion said. _"We have also accessed the central control system and are now reversing the intrusive override."_

Tali rolled away from the new squad's barrage and rounded the corner. "I got this," Lushrok said, flinging a grenade at the mechs. A blast and a storm of shredded metal, but bullets still flew through the cloud of smoke. And even more came from the other direction.

Legion and Kasumi needed to hurry up.

An omni-tool program jammed half the mechs' weapons; enough to buy some time. Tali gunned the disabled mechs as quickly as she could—one two three four—but with Lushrok firing in the other direction, she wasn't fast enough. "How many of these do you have?"

"A lot," was Lushrok's reply.

And they never considered the possibility that someone could turn their mechs on them? But Tali didn't have the time to complain about the all-too-familiar story. She aimed her omni-tool. The moment her energy drain program hit, another burst of shrapnel sent the cluster of mechs tumbling to the floor. A flash of white through the smoke as an omni-tool smashed into a downed mech's head.

"Perfect timing, huh?" Kasumi emerged from the smoke, omni-tool charged and pistol prepared. She whirled around and struck another mech before slipping into her cloak.

"The hells? You aliens multiplying?" Lushrok asked.

"Don't mind him." Kasumi's cloak dropped as the thief smashed a mech in the chest, then shot another. A high flip towards the tall ceiling; Tali took the opening. The next wave—the final wave, it looked like, and she hoped it was—exploded with sparks.

One two three four five si—

Kasumi landed on top of the last.

Chiktikka returned to Tali's side, and the _ratatat_ from Lushrok's rifle ceased. Tali glanced over her shoulder to find that section of the corridor clear as well. She looked back at Kasumi. "Sorry," the thief said, smirking. "I kinda had to take the last one."

_"Success. We have disarmed the nuclear explosive and restored the control system to normal functionality."_

A few seconds late. Tali stood. "Let's go." They only had a couple of minutes.

* * *

Victor lunged, his cloak dropping and his omni-tool blade aimed at Becher's neck. The woman whirled around. A biotic field caught his hand just before impact. "That's not going to work," Becher said, her fist charging with a blue glow.

As Victor expected. His omni-tool flashed, and the back of Becher's neck sparked in response. The barrier dropped. His enemy's eyes widened, but a last-second step backward made the blade drop through thin air.

Becher clutched her dampened amp. She made a fist again, but only a flickering field responded to her. "Not a problem. Like I told you, I was an N6 before I joined up with Yin. I can still go head-to-head with you without my biotics."

Victor took the time to cloak again.

She was good, he had to admit. Very good with close-range, and her precision with her biotics reminded him of Kaidan. She wanted a fair fight, and if she was the one in charge, he might've obliged her. But she wasn't. Just a distraction. Becher liked her close-quarters engagement.

So Victor clipped the pistol and the omni-tool blade, retreated a good distance while his cloak was still up and brought out what he did best.

"Where are you, Shepard…"

Enough toying. He aimed, he pulled the trigger. The silenced gun didn't make a sound, despite the massive recoil. Becher's eyes widened for just an instant as she realized what was happening. And without a biotic barrier, there was nothing to stop the armor-piercing bullet from tearing through her head.

Victor rose and put the Widow away. Yin had wasted enough of his time.

_"Tali'Zorah here. We've disarmed the bombs."_

"Good. Return to the _Normandy_."

One problem solved, one more to eliminate. He approached the door to the observation deck, stepping over Becher's corpse, and undid the lock.

* * *

Shepard did a damn good job of clearing the upper levels. Or most of the YSS troops were concentrated on the ground level and had been wiped out by the rest of the squad. Whichever it might've been, Garrus knew all too well how quickly a dead silent room could break out into a firefight. He scanned the darkened hallway around the corner; no hostiles. Not even a corpse or wrecked mech on the ground.

A small dot visor's HUD—life signs. Unidentified. Someone else was in that other room, and it wasn't the commander or any of the squad. A survivor of the wrecked guard force from the first floor? Lone batarian who had managed to escape Yin? His grip on his rifle steady, Garrus inched towards the door and pressed up against the wall panel besides it. A quick override of the lock, and he rushed inside, gun aimed straight ahead.

"What the—" The room's occupant, seated before a slew of holographic monitors, whirled around. "You're one of Shepard's. Archangel, isn't it?"

Garrus lowered his rifle for a second. "How did you get away from Yin's men?"

The monitors' orange light cast the seated figure in shadow, but its silhouette was most definitely batarian, and its voice possessed that distinct gravelly rumble. "You're assuming that Yin wants to kill me."

"And why wouldn't he? He's not the tolerant type of human."

"No. No he isn't." The batarian reclined in his chair. "A strange twist of hypocrisy that he needs a batarian to help him slaughter batarians."

"What?"

"How else could Yin have seized control of all these batarian mechs? None of his could've done it, they don't know their way around the programming. But I did. I gave him a way into the central security network. That and more. I gave him access to every level of Alesh'Khal's defenses."

On that end, it made sense. But at the same time… maybe there wasn't just one kind of batarian, unlike what the rest of the galaxy thought. "You're helping Yin kill your own people. Why?"

"I won't answer your questions," the batarian said. Garrus made out a scowl through the darkness. "But I'll admit. I didn't get what I was expecting when I gave Yin my help." He turned around his chair and put his fingers to keys. "Well. Yin doesn't want me dead, I'm sure that Shepard will take care of the problem I'm going to create for myself."

An image of Alesh'Khal appeared across all the monitors.

"The bombs we placed at Tower One? Nice try with the tracking devices."


	17. Chapter 16

**XVI.**

"Welcome to Tower Two, Commander Shepard."

"Yin." The man stood facing the windows, which completely comprised the observation deck's outer walls. Victor's visor marked no weapons, no bombs, nothing threatening on his person. He narrowed his eyes at that and stepped forward.

"The Memorial of Burning Rain, they call it. A memorial yes, but look at it. The way the towers taper into a fine point, almost like the tip of a sword. As much a threat as a memorial."

"Your N6 didn't impress me. Math should've told you that sending her wouldn't have worked."

Yin chuckled. "She was expendable."

"Like every last soldier in your private army? You have nothing left, and your bombs failed, too. You sacrificed your entire company—and yourself, in a few seconds—for nothing." Victor aimed his pistol.

"I admit. I had planned for much more than this. I wanted to bring the batarians to their knees, hit them over and over again with a hundred Alesh'Khals, until even their precious capital wasn't safe. A symphony entirely in _fortissimo,_ every explosion the strike of a gong or timpani. A large picture for the blind. But Whitwell had to involve you. I knew my chances at surviving an encounter with you from the start. And I realized…" Yin turned around, a smug grin on his face. "One must be willing to die for plans like this. You can't have forgotten what happened on the _Snake Fang_. I'm sure you wouldn't let yourself."

_Kill O'Connor and stop the attack. Kill the Old Man and save O'Connor._ "Spare me the monologue. What are you getting at?" The bombs were disarmed. Yin's entire security force was dead. He must have planned something else.

"I'm continuing what your Old Man started. Or rather…" Yin's smile widened. "What _I_ started."

The pistol dropped slightly. "You…"

"Oh. Whitwell kept that detail from you. She did like to keep her cards close to her, I suppose." Yin took a step. "You never wondered why your Tenth Street Reds, a small street gang, not even close the most powerful of them in New York City, suddenly had the resources to hijack a freighter, hack into Alesh'Khal's defense grid, and eliminate seventy thousand batarians? You're a smart man, Shepard. Certainly you have. "

Of course Victor did. And it made perfect sense, once he got over the initial surprise. He remembered the shuttle Weisman used to get to Kalarath Station, the way O'Connor effortlessly disabled Alesh'Khal's defenses. Curiosity mixed with disgust forced him to ask, "How did you meet the Old Man?"

It had been a coincidence, Yin told him. Yin was visiting a prison, ostensibly to reform selected inmates and offer them honest jobs—places in his growing security force, steady careers in protecting people instead of killing them. All a lie. The prison guards were all in his payroll, and he only wanted expendable "resources" for one of his early plans on attacking the Batarian Hegemony. Thugs made for better scapegoats—lawless brutes with nothing to lose and a good deal of xenophobia—and made it harder to trace their actions back to Yin, a legitimate businessman.

Then he encountered the Old Man, smoking a hit in his cell. "You're full of shit," he said. "Men like you don't really give a flying fuck about men like me. Not unless they want something—something that's not bullshit charity."

Yin told him the truth, gave him his ideas. And the Old Man fell silent for several seconds, then gave him his own ideas—better ideas. It turned out that the two of them were more alike than either of them thought. The only difference was the amount of money they had in their wallets. The Old Man made him a deal. Yin would bust him out of prison. The Old Man would reclaim a gang he used to lead—the Tenth Street Reds, provide all the man power, do all the dirty work, and even come up with the plan itself. All Yin had to do was give him the money and a few pieces of equipment to do it.

"It was a win-win situation," Yin said, his smile now seeming nostalgic, not smug. "I advanced my goals with nearly no work on my part at all. The financial losses Kobayashi Arms suffered with their project's failure meant that I could acquire their assets and expand my company. My expenses were repaid in full and more. Meanwhile, Elysium and our other colonies were avenged. I gave the money, the Old Man laid the ground work…" He looked back at Victor. "And you finished the de—"

_bang_

Yin's knee exploded with blood. Howling in pain, the man doubled over. Just then, a bullet shattered his other knee, accompanied by another crack of thunder. Yin sank to the floor.

"You know what you really are?" Victor stalked towards him, his voice a low growl. "A wannabe, nothing like the Old Man at all. What you did here? Unforgivable, but nothing but a shadow of what he did. He died, but he succeeded. You?" He grabbed Yin by the collar and hoisted him up to eye level. "You're just a dead failure." With that, Victor rammed his pistol into Yin's gut and pulled the trigger.

Once Yin's pained cries quieted down, the dying man mustered a weak chuckle. "You're wrong, Commander Shepard. So very… _wrong_." Yin immediately slumped to the side, his green eyes unfocused and distant.

Victor relaxed his grip and let the body fall to the floor. Yin was dead, but knowing that he had something else planned made it seem a hollow victory. Killing the man in charge never seemed to end it. Not with the Old Man, not with Saren, and not with Yin.

"Commander." He turned around to find Miranda and the others—minus Garrus—climbing up the stairs from the foyer. His XO looked downwards and pursed her lips. "It looks like we missed it. But good riddance."

"So it's over?" Jacob asked.

"No. There's something else…"

_"Garrus to Shepard. Commander, you read me?"_

Maybe Garrus found something while sweeping the other levels. "Shepard here. What is it?"

_"Yin had us fooled. The bombs were just a diversion. His real weapon is the entire orbital defense grid."_

_"Alesh'Khal's orbital defense network has been compromised,"_ EDI said. _"All eight defense platforms, including Kalarath Station, are exhibiting a decaying orbit. If they remain on their current trajectories, they will impact all of the colony's major cities. Estimated casualties: one-point-two million."_

Dread set in almost immediately. "Dammit." Yin, an imitation as he was, really _did_ plan on continuing the Old Man's work. Almost exactly. And Victor had been so single-minded in stopping the bombs that he neglected to consider other possibilities. He made the same mistake Whitwell did: underestimating Yin. "Can you get into their network, stop the platforms from falling?"

_"Alesh'Khal's orbital defense operates on a closed network. I would need a manual connection aboard one of the platforms in order to access it. By the time such would be possible, the platforms' trajectories would be irreversible."_

_"Don't worry, Shepard,"_ Garrus said. _"I'm already on my way."_

* * *

The frustration in Shepard's voice reminded Garrus of his own as the batarian explained Yin's real plans. "At first, everything you saw Yin do was the entire plan. The bombs were going to level Tower One, then Yin would have evacuated Tower Two and bombed it as well. Fortunately for Yin I was there to find the devices you planted with the nukes." The eight defense platforms joined the image of Alesh'Khal on the monitors. "So Yin decided to improvise. Actually, I did. I came up with the idea of treating the stations as weapons rather than obstacles. Yin naturally loved it."

"You're going to smash the stations into the planet?"

"Correct." The stations fell towards the planet, and huge red circles grew from where they hit. "They've been falling ever since your assault began."

The moment EDI had the batarian's claims confirmed, Garrus rushed out of the tower and took an abandoned shuttle to Kalarath. An instance—one of several, he guessed—where he wasn't thinking before leaping. Now, as the twisted jumble of metal drew larger from beyond the shuttle's viewport, Garrus realized what he had rushed into.

But, he figured, Shepard would want him to do this in the end.

Garrus landed the shuttle in a hangar bay and bolted out. His helmet's HUD had confirmed that Kalarath's life support and gravity systems had been knocked out, so his hardsuit adjusted to compensate. A map from the station's failing network pointed him in the direction of the command center.

A labyrinth of a space station later, Garrus was there. He took to the console at the center of the wide room, stepping over scattered cables and broken chairs and equipment—batarian corpses, too. A check of his omni-tool: he didn't have much time.

"Dammit," he muttered, fingers flying over the haptic keys. The entire orbital defense system had been severed. He couldn't access the other stations from Kalarath. Unless… He tapped his helmet. "EDI." Again. "EDI." He brought up his omni-tool. Yin might have left a comm jammer on the station.

No. His communications had been disabled directly at his hardsuit and omni-tool. The batarian, he realized. The bastard must have slipped the bug in while Garrus was distracted and had waited to activate it until now.

He had no time to fix it, and no time to indulge his anger over the batarian's deception. Without any way of connection to EDI or the _Normandy_, he was on his own. More command strings, and more lines of corresponding data on the screen. Good. He managed to construct a bare-bones network from what was left of the old one. From there he could self-destruct each of the stations so that their fragments could burn up in the atmosphere. But he had to do it manually, and one-by-one. One by itself would take a few precious minutes. He wished Tali or Legion was with him; either of them could have done a better job.

And by the time it took him to destroy all eight…

No, he reminded himself, and started it. He accessed the first platform, initiated the self-destruct sequence, and overrode the countdown. He repeated the process four times before the rising temperature made him realize. Dammit, he needed more time. If he let Kalarath fall for not much longer, destroying it wouldn't matter.

Six. Seven.

Sparks flew all around him. The console's screen flickered. The heat was becoming almost unbearable.

And eight.

Garrus exhaled. It was done. Not a perfect save; some of the debris would survive the descent through the atmosphere and hit the city. But it was better than nothing.

Soundless explosions flared all around him. A sudden burst of flame and force erupted at his feet. His back crashed against metal. Debris slammed into his helmet. Fire clawed through the cracks, and in seconds, Garrus inhaled but found nothing. As yellow, orange, and red overtook gray, brown, and black, he remembered the human who had turned a frustrated C-Sec officer into more. He remembered his sister, his sick mother, and his father, and wondered what his father would say if he knew that his son had died to save a colony of batarians.

And he remembered the Reapers, what the galaxy still faced. And as even the yellow, orange, and red gave way to white, he somehow knew that it would carry on well enough after…

* * *

From outside the _Normandy_'s forward viewport, Victor saw Kalarath Station blossom with short-lived explosions. Fragments flew in every direction as the massive structure disintegrated. And with the station's destruction came that of Yin's plans as well. Another victory. But like with killing Yin… "EDI?" he mustered over the chill in his stomach.

"Kalarath Station has been destroyed. As with all other Alesh'Khal orbital defense platforms."

"I'm not asking about that. I know."

"Officer Vakarian, however… I can no longer trace his position." A pause. Joker looked up at him, mortified. "I'm sorry, Commander. He is dead."

With that, the last bit of hope faded.

"He sacrificed himself to save the colony," Tali said, her voice trembling. "He died a hero."

But somehow, despite all of Victor's rationality arguing Tali's point, that wasn't enough. Not when Garrus was his fault. Not when his own fear, over the _Snake Fang_, over Whitwell and Scipio and Yin, his own mistakes, his hypocrisy—hypocrisy that Garrus had pointed out—caused him to lose one of his closest friends. Not when after fighting geth, Sovereign, Saren, and the Collectors, Garrus deserved better than dying to a would-be mass murderer.

Victor turned around and walked away from the cockpit.

He came to Alesh'Khal to redeem himself for the seventy-thousand he let die seven years ago. He succeeded, but in exchange he lost something, someone, that as much as he hated to admit it, meant more to him than all that seventy-thousand.

More to him than the million saved.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The funeral came two days later. Victor did his best to maintain his military calm while delivering the eulogy, recalling his first meeting with Garrus on the Citadel, recruiting him in the clinic, finding him on Omega, and everything in-between. It was relatively easy, just reciting the words. But looking at the coffin, knowing Garrus wasn't inside made things difficult.

Even harder, afterwards, was writing the message to his family.

_"Garrus died a hero,"_ he typed. _"It was an honor to have known and served alongside him."_ He added a closing, his name and signature. His finger lingered over the send button for several seconds before he worked up the nerve to press it.

With a sigh, he stood up and headed towards the bed. His footsteps drew Joker's gaze.

"I knew that we had a good chance of losing people fighting the Collectors," he said. "But I won't lose anyone else to my mistakes. Never again. Garrus died because I didn't trust anyone with knowing about the _Snake Fang_. So…"

Victor reached into a drawer by the nightstand and pulled out a bottle of Armali Flame with a two glasses. Joker nodded, knowing what it meant. They drank to Ashley's honor every anniversary of Virmire. Garrus' memory would now join her. "I've decided. No more secrets between us." He popped open the bottle and poured, then looked back up at Joker. "You're quiet."

He shrugged. "Not much to say. Garrus is gone, the whole crew's feeling it."

"I guess so." Out with the crew, he had to be the strong leader and encourage everyone to press forward. At least he could drop that with Joker.

"But you're sure you wanna pick up looking for the Shadow Broker? It's kinda soon, and…"

Victor handed Joker his shot. "After this, I'm not going to neglect a friend. Liara's done a lot for me, and I promised her I'd help." Setting the bottle down, he downed the shot, appreciating the liquid fire running down his throat. "All right. I said I won't keep any secrets from you, and I meant it. I didn't tell the complete story behind the _Snake Fang_."

Joker cracked a faint, cautious grin. "Bedtime story?"

"Something like that." He poured another shot. "It was seven years ago. I was a First Lieutenant then, serving on the SSV _Munich…_"


End file.
